The Silent Screaming in Your Nightmare
by Dashita Tichou
Summary: Edward Elric's voice still screams in his sleep but he doesn't speak. The newly appointed Fuhrer Mustang has promoted the alchemist to the position of Brig Gen. A difficult war with Creta forces Ed to command troops. There is still the possibility of corruption in the military. Why can't Edward speak anymore? Is it pain over his Al and Winry? Or did something happen with Truth?
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey... Yeah... For you people who watch me for Bleach stuff... I feel like a terrible person... For you people who don't, I'm warning you know. The most that this is ever going to be updated is once a month and the least is once a year. I'm kinda bad on that front because I get writers block pretty easily. But you should be proud of me! This is 1,279 words without the author's note! Now I just gotta add a zero at the end and the story will be finished. I'm gessing that this is gonna be a fairly short fanfic, but I'm not sure. If you guys have an 'optimal length' or anything weird like that, just let me know later on when you type in that magically appearing box with the clickies! X3**

Chapter One: The Silent Shorty

"I don't know who the hell you are kid, but you need to skedaddle. This is a military base." The kid ignored the guard and kept walking, a frown on his face and a look in his eyes that just dared the man to contradict him. "Kid! You can't go in there, that's Brig. Gen. Elric's tent!" The kid turned to glare at the man. "Look," the guard said, running his hand through his short brown locks, "I get the fact that you wanna meet him, I mean, he's a war hero and all that, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't want some shorty coming in on him," the guard continued, unaware of the danger as the kid's hands inched together in a soft clap, "And I don't even think he's here yet…"

The guard finally drifted off as the kid held a short silver blade up to his throat. He hadn't even seen him coming. Still though, he was waiting for the newly appointed Brig Gen, he couldn't deal with some kid, even if he did have some skill.

"Look here kid," he said, pushing the kid's arm away from his throat, "Like I said, he's not here and I'm busy. Get lost Shorty." Next thing the guard new, he was pinned to the ground and a cold, hard, _metal_ hand was pressing his face into the soil while an equally _metal_ knee was pushing his back down. A second hand came into his view and a silver pocket watch came into view.

_'Oh shit!_ ' the man thought, _'The brig. Gen got here just in time to see what must've looked like me harassing this kid!' _Unfortunately, it was much, much worse than the guard could possibly believe. A piece of paper was shoved into his face. It read _State your name and rank._

"Er… I'm Second Lt. Sean Rowe…" the guard said carefully. The paper vanished and he felt a pad of paper thud down onto his back. A moment of scribbling later and a second sheet of paper was shoved into his face. The handwriting was dreadful, it was definitely a different person writing this one. _'You're on probation until further notice. Also, my name's not kid. It's Edward Elric. You are to address me as either Brig. Gen. Elric or the Fullmetal Alchemist. Now take me to my damn tent. This camp is too big…'_

"Y-You're Brig. Gen. Elric?!" the man gasped out as the weight on his neck and back vanished. There was silence and he looked back at the kid. A sharp nod met his inquiry. "W-Why aren't you-" Another piece of paper was shoved into the man's field of vision. It was an official military document, signed by Fuhrer Mustang. _'Under no circumstances is the newly appointed Brigadier General Edward Elric, Code name Fullmetal, to be questioned as to his lack of speech.'_

Rowe had taken it to read it and Brig. Gen. Elric turned away from him. He was kind of in disbelief, he'd known the Hero of the People was young, but hearing about him and actually _seeing_ the young man were two very different things.

"Yes Sir!" Rowe snapped before handing the orders back to Elric. He led the way to the new commander's tent and was about to leave, but the kid held out a hand to the soldier for his stripes and the like. Rowe sighed and handed it over to go put up with his probation. Damn… When Bayr heard of how he'd been put there, he'd never let it go…

The two people already in the tent grinned like madmen when the golden haired, golden eyed, alchemist of the people entered. Edward merely shifted uncomfortably onhis feet before pulling out his pad of paper. He scribbled quickly before tossing the sheet to the blonde man on the bed.

_'Havoc, Breda, what the hell are you two doing here?'_ After the minute it took to decode (figuratively) the chicken scratch, Havoc grinned even worse and Breda just shook his head.

"We're here to coach you Chief!" Havoc piped up cheerily. He would've gotten to his feet and squished the life out of the short alchemist, but Edward looked like he was going to kill the pair of them. The short alchemist stomped over and snatched the paper back from the man, tearing it a bit in the process. He scribbled out another note, this one even less legible than the last.

_'On what Dumbass? Fuhrer Bastard sent me out here to act as military support didn't he? I've fought in more than enough damn battles to not make an ass outta myself in a war with fucking Creta.'_

"I don't think you quite understand it Chief. And how come you're not talking-"

A sheet with orders signed by Colonel Mustang was shoved under Havoc's nose. Breda leaned over and the two skimmed the orders that Edward had shoved at Sean Rowe. Casually, he flipped over the orders to see a handwritten note. It was the same handwriting as the first note. It read

_Havoc, I'm pretty sure that you're the only person who can help Ed. Fullmetal's not_

_been the same since Alphonse got together with Winry when he was in the hospital. _

_He viewed it as a betrayal of the deepest sort of trust, particularly with his_

_brother. He still blames himself for the whole thing with the homunculi too. Please_

_beat it into his head that he's not to blame and that his brother an Winry didn't_

_have it out for him… Also, see if you can get him to talk. I can't tell you what he_

_did this time, he didn't even tell me, but I can't think of anything that would kill off_

_his voice. Something's wrong. You're under orders to find out what._

_Mustang_

_PS Burn this. Ed's got another copy without this. He knows I wrote something, but_

_for some reason he can't see this ink._

Havoc frowned and exchanged a glance with Breda before turning back to the alchemist who was ready with a note waiting.

_'What'd he say?'_ Havoc ignored it and instead stepped away from the bed.

"Dinner's at 1900 Chief, you got an hour until then. And I don't think you've quite read your orders right. You're not her to support, you're here as a commander." And Havoc walked away, with Breda right behind.

Edward watched them leave before dropping his façade. His shoulders slumped forward and he all but collapsed onto the bed. He had an hour before those words had to sink in, not that they weren't trying their hardest right that second. Edward promptly closed his eyes and let the world go as he fell asleep.

Ten minutes after dinner hard started Havoc was getting a little annoyed with his new Brig. Gen. He'd told Edward to be on time hadn't he? The alchemist needed to show and the men needed to meet their new commander. He had been promoted to a Maj., but he wasn't the only man needed or else he would've had Mustang discharge Elric personally. Twenty minutes passed while Havoc practically inhaled his dinner. Thirty minutes and still no Edward. Forty minutes and Havoc was debating whether or not to leave the blonde where he was to miss dinner. Fifty minutes and Havoc decided to bring him something. Fifty-five minutes and a sharp scream of torture rang through the camp. Havoc recognized the voice at the same time Breda did and the two pushed their way through the suddenly crowded tent as the other men snapped into full alert.

"EDWARD!" the two roared as they sprinted away.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Yay! I got a cliffy there! Expect much torture for poor little Eddy-kun! This is gonna mainly follow Brotherhood with the way things go down with exceptions from here and there that I prefer from the 2003 anime. Yes, those little flukes do exist. As such, I'm going to experimenting with various things. And question, does anybody else think that in the first anime that Kimblee looks way too much like Archer? He's much smexier in the Brotherhood (I'm a girl for all you guys who are reading that and thinking WTF?! in your heads. Yes, I can see you. Well, figuratively anyways...)**

**There's a magically appearing box with the clickies for a reason... REVIEW! (Pwease?)**


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**This is kinda a miracle... Two chapters, two days... Enjoy! (This chappy is dedicated to jmtothemusic because they were the first reviewer for this story!) X3**

****Chapter Two: An Old Friend

"Edward!" Havoc yelled as he thrust the tent flap open. The blonde kid was on the ground, thrashing and convulsing as well as beating himself over the head with his automail.

"Edward!" Breda said in disbelief as he saw the small pool of blood already on the floor. "We need to hold him down! I'll get the legs, get his arms!" The two soldiers jumped into action and held Edward down, the tent flap hanging open behind them. A few curious lts. and other soldiers had followed them. Breda got his end controlled first and recognized the red-headed man in the front.

"Lt. Bayr! Get in here and help!" the soldier snapped into action and dove for the flesh arm immediately, but the automail got out of Havoc's reach and went soaring again. It decked Bayr and a deep purple bruise started to form on his chin immeadiately. Havoc went in again and between the three of them kept his limbs still, but the alchemist was still thrashing. Bayr turned to bark orders, knowing that the higher ranking men were worried about the kid.

"Russel!" he yelled to the short man in the front of the crowd, "Go get someone from the med tent!"

"Yes Sir!" Russel snapped, heading away from the trio and the gathering infantry. He ran straight to the med tent and burst through the flaps, startling the doctor who seemed to be cleaning some sort of tool.

"I'm not sure exactly who it is, but some kid in the Brig. Gen.'s tent looks like he's having a nightmare. Maj. Havoc and Maj. Breda are holding him down. Can you go help?" The doctor was out the door in an instant, headed straight for the correct tent. He had a vague idea of who the Warrant Officer was speaking of. Luckily, he kept syringes full of both light and heavy sedatives in the deep pocket of his operating coat, which he was actually wearing.

He burst into the room and knelt down next to the three. His heart skipped a beat.

"Edward…" he breathed out. Havoc was the only one who found it curious that the surgeon knew Ed's name.

"Doctor Duncan!" Breda said, just as the automail knee came up to hit him in the gut. Duncan retrieved a vile of his moderate to light sedative, it would be a little higher in concentration due to the patient's size and lack of two limbs, so it would act as though he'd injected a whole tube of his heaviest stuff. He situated the needle carefully into Edward's flesh arm and drew back carefully, watching as his convulsions slowed before finally stopping. When he was sure that Edward was completely under he stood and motioned towards the bed.

"Stick the Pipsqueak up there." Havoc frowned further and Breda realized what it meant. Duncan must know Edward.

"Get on out Bayr." Havoc said, wanting to talk to Duncan alone.

"Yes Sir!" Bayr saluted smartly before exiting, leaving to go tell his friend Rowe what he'd just seen. Sure, the new Brig. Gen. hadn't been talking earlier, but _damn!_ His lungs were _HUGE!_

Once the Lt. was out of the tent, Breda turned to Duncan and beat Havoc o the punch.

"How do you know Edward?" Duncan turned to look at said Pipsqueak and said something that sounded suspisciouslly like _"Stupid Pipsqueak, getting taller than I am…" _before turning to face the two higher ranking officers.

"I'm from Resembool." Duncan answered carefully, "Ed and I went to school together."

"I didn't realize you were that young Doc!" Havoc said, slipping into his 'eastern' speech patterns to interrogate without it being obvious what he was doing.

"I'm nineteen Maj. Havoc!" he protested, "I'm a couple years older than Ed!"

"So how come you went to school with him?" Breda asked, picking up where Havoc left off, knowing the routine very well from working with the taller man for years.

"This kid is a State Alchemist at 12 and you're asking why he skipped a couple grades?" Duncan picked up on what they were doing, but he let them ask whatever the hell they wanted to, they _were_ Majors and if they wanted to, they could get him discharged for unauthorized sedation of a superior. Granted, they wanted him to do it in the first place… But still, he hadn't gotten the direct inquiry for it…

"I guess that makes sense," Havoc said easily before turning back to Edward. "What'd you give 'im?"

"Just a light sedative. Knocked him out faster than I thought though," Duncan said, not seeing the looks the two Majors were exchanging, "And I even accounted for the automail and his small size…"

"I don't know," Breda said with a shrug, "But what I do know is that it's probably some new drug that's only being used in battle medic stations on a test run."

"How'd you figure that out?" Duncan asked with some amount of uncertainty, "I didn't say anything about that. Did I?"

"No," Havoc said carefully, "Breda's just an intelligence expert. Plus, anybody who knows the Chief knows he's built up a resistance to most sedatives.

"'Chief'?" Duncan asked uncertainly, "You mean Pipsqueak?"

"Yeah," Havoc replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Maj. Breda here got into the habit of callin' Ed 'Chief' cause it's weird to call someone younger than you 'Sir' and it kinda stuck."

"I guess you're right," Duncan said resignedly before sitting quietly for a while. A few minutes later, he jumped to his feet, picking up on the movement of Ed's eyelids. He was waking up _already?!_

"What sedatives do you know that he's the most resistant to?" he asked, signaling Havoc to hold Ed down. Breda had already gotten into position on the automail arm because he'd seen the faint twitching of flesh fingers. The intelligence expert rattled off a rather long list of all the sedatives that Ed had a major exposure to. "Shit," Duncan cursed, "I don't have anything different enough to keep him out for a while!" Then the sheer amount that Breda had listed made him give the Major another look. "Has Ed really been in the hospital enough times to have even been hit with each of those _once_? I mean, I'm sure that two or three would be okay for him to have a resistance to because of the automail rehabilitation, but _twenty-three?!_ What's he been doing, fighting a mass-murderer or something?!"

Havoc would've laughed, but Edward had chosen that exact moment to wake up in a blind panic. Duncan would later find out how exactly on target he was from said alchemist. Breda had his hands completely stuffed with holding down the metal arm, the flesh was completely out of reach and so apparently was Edward's conscious mind. His golden eyes were empty and staring ahead with an emptiness that reminded Breda of the way Mustang's eyes always looked after a nightmare of Ishval. Havoc seemed to see it only a little after Breda and gave up on the legs to go after Edward's flesh hand a moment too late.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Yeays! Two cliffies in this story now! And, for the first time ever, I'm going to do review replies in this thingy!**

jmtothemusic:Wow, that was fantastic! Ur an awesome writer, and the story  
really is getting exciting already! update soon! :D

**Aw! Thank you, I'm glad that you enjoyed it! If you think that was exciting, just keep reading, I'll do my best to keep up the action, but I do have to up the angst more!**

**Also, I'd like to thank _reviewer74_,_Kohaku The Otaku_, _WithBurningApathy_, _Firefly264_, _gpianist_, _CreamsTheDream_, and **_**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza**_** and anybody who sees it fit to relieve this author of her sadness and answer her pleads by typing in the magical box with the clickies! For you people who have followed and/or favorited this story, I am declaring you epic! (The ones who have as of the second I'm typing this are the people who's names I just typed... Please follow their example...)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******I guess I kinda lied when I told you peeps that I'd only be updating once a month... This is Chapter Three on Day Three... It's absolutely terrifying to me... Didn't know it was possible... This Chappy is dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza for being the first to review the last chappy. Enjoy X3**

****Chapter Three: Strategic Training

The clap rang out through the room and the two Majors jumped away, pulling Duncan with them. One flash of blue alchemic lightning later and Ed's favorite blade was coming out from his automail arm. The familiar sight seemed to jolt him back to consciousness fully. A softer 'clap' rang through the air and the automail went back to normal. The three watched as Edward surveyed the area and saw him see the crowd outside his still open tent flap. He got up, flipped the bird at the crowd of officers and shut them furiously. Great. Now the three had to figure out the truth from a silent, furious, and short alchemist.

"Hey there Pipsqueak!" Duncan greeted, wanting to cheer up his former classmate, not realizing that the violent reactions had not passed with maturity. Two seconds later the doctor was pinned in a similar manner to the way that Rowe had been pinned only an hour or so previously. "No fair!" the doctor protested, "I'm in medical, not advance!" A pad plopped onto his back and a furious scribbling was heard throughout the room.

_'What the fuck are you doing calling me a pipsqueak?! I'm taller than you are dumbass!_ _And why are you out here? I thought you were studying in Dublith!'_ was shoved into Duncan's face.

"And you can't… Talk?" Duncan asked in disbelief, having been on the receiving end of far more than a handful of short-rants in his time. To him, that voice being silenced was almost as bad as Ed dying. Edward climbed off of Duncan's back and pulled him up, giving Havoc and Breda a look that clearly said 'Shut up and stay out of this.' Both obeyed and stayed to the side of the tent quietly. "Why can't you talk?" Duncan asked as the two settled down onto the bed. He waited as Ed scribbled a quick note. It was hardly legible, like the first, and it had been years since he read Ed's chicken-scratch, but he'd been able to read things that were far less legible from one of his associates in the medicine world. His handwriting made Ed's look like perfectly scripted cursive.

_'I can't talk about that. Orders from the Fuhrer.'_ Havoc, looking over Duncan's shoulder, merely chuckled under his breath. Edward was lying through his-well, not really through his teeth, but he was lying-about the orders from Mustang. The Fuhrer didn't even know why.

"Oh," Duncan said, kind of at a loss for words, "Okay… I guess I should get going then, there's a patient…" He made a move to rise from the bed, but Edward's automail clamped onto his arm. Ed was glaring at him and he was clearly still furious. When Duncan simply made a confused expression the alchemist gave a disgruntled face of his own and held up a finger as he scribbled out another note.

_'You didn't answer my question. Why're you out here?'_ Duncan shifted uneasily, trying unsuccessfully to hide it from the other three occupants in the tent.

"Well… I… Um…" he stuttered, unable to find an excuse, "You remember Chris, right? My brother?" Edward nodded sharply. "Well… He kinda… Enlisted…" Edward's mouth dropped open and his pen fell to the ground. He left it for a moment and Duncan took the moment to scurry out of the tent. The one thing he prayed was that Chris would avoid Ed lest his head be ripped off.

Once Duncan had left the tent, Breda closed the flap, knowing that having it open bothered Edward. He shot a look at the remaining men and gestured for them to leave, watching for a half second to make sure that they did.

Havoc strolled forward and picked up the pen Ed had dropped. He tossed it from hand to hand, feeling the weight and observing the make.

"This is a nice pen ya got here Chief!" he said cheerfully. Edward seemed to recover then and held out a hand wearily for said writing utensil. Havoc handed it over wordlessly and watched as Edward wrote another note, although quite a bit slower.

_'Don't beat around the bush now. I bet you wanna know all sorta stuff about why I was screaming and crap don't you?'_

"Well," Breda said from behind Ed, making the small blonde jump, "We do, but I have an idea of what's wrong already." He moved around the bed and Havoc and sat at Ed's feet. "How long have the night terrors been goin' on Chief?" Edward looked at him uncertainly for a moment before scratching out a short note.

_'What's that?'_ Havoc decided to tackle that before Breda could, the two were close but sometimes his friend seemed like a total show-off.

"A night terror is kinda like a nightmare, but it's a bit more realistic. Mustang had 'em all the time after Ishval, I haven't had shit quite that bad though, I was just an infantry man at the time. Anyways, when ya have a night terror it's like you're actually there in your head, ya see everything and you don't know what's goin' on and whatnot. Your body will move around pretty bad out here though. Lots a people scream." Breda, not to be outdone, interjected with the dictionary definition. Havoc pouted and Edward scribbled another note.

_'It's none of your business.'_

"Look Chief," Havoc started, "Mustang wants us to keep an eye on you, can't you understand this kinda thing'll hurt people around you?" Edward just glared at him before underlining his previous note.

"Chief," Breda said, deciding to change the subject, "We gotta introduce you to the men." The alchemist shook his head.

"Do you even know your rank?" Havoc asked, lazily lighting a cigarette. Less than a second after it was lit, the offending cancer stick was shoved out the widow. "Chief!" he protested, taking out another only for Edward to snatch the bow away from the avid smoker, along with the lighter, "Come on Chief! If you don't want me to smoke in your tent, just ask! Can I have 'em back?" A clap and a pile of ashes later gave Havoc his answer. Breda was mildly impressed at the annoyed alchemist's response but noticed that he'd dodged the question.

"Do you know your rank Chief?" Breda repeated the question for him. Edward glared at him before scratching out two words.

_'Brigadier General.'_

"Yep!" Breda replied, "And do you know that means you're the highest ranking officer currently present on the battle field, along with being the only state alchemist currently out here?" Ed shook his head at the strategist. "Creta has a military where every man is at least educated on the theory's of basic offensive alchemy. Their front lines contain one alchemist in every fifty soldiers. The tribes have pulled their acts together to get hold of land here. Do you know what our ratio is?" Another shake of the head from Edward. "One State Alchemist in every two hundred soldiers." Edward shifted uncomfortably before scribbling out a note quickly.

_'Is that why Fuhrer Bastard sent me out?' _

"Yeah," Breda replied darkly, "That's exactly why he sent out _you_ specifically. You're the best alchemist we have in the State division." Edward nodded with a frown.

"You're also the new commander out here," Havoc broke in, still fuming over his ruined cigarettes and lighter (It had been a present from his girlfriend damnit!). Edward dropped his pen once more, but this time it was from his flesh arm suddenly falling limp at his side. Breda and Havoc looked at him strangely. Why did his arm fail? Edward gave them a look that said 'Can you get that for me?' his eyes flicking down to the pen and then pointedly to Havoc's hand. The easy going soldier scooped it up for him and handed it to him, flinching slightly from the cold of the automail underneath the kid's glove.

It took much longer for Edward to write with his automail hand, but his handwriting was bubblier than his flesh hand's.

_'It just happens sometimes, leftover nerve damage from one fight too many. Can you get me a sling? I'm not sure if my shoulder's dislocated or not…'_

"I'll go get ya one Chief!" Havoc said cheerfully, "I'll see if I can still get you something outta the mess-hall too!" Edward sent a grateful look towards Havoc as the man walked out, being careful to close the tent flaps behind him. Breda sat down by his feet then and settled in for a long talk/write.

"So, Mustang told me to refresh you in some basic battle strategies and hand-signals. I guess the hand-signals are a bit more important right now, so let's start on those first…"

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey, guess what! It's that magical time when people get their odd comments and/or queries (Don't you just _love_ that word?!) about my story.**

****Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:  
*Sobs uncontrollably* I don't like seeing you like this Ed! ... Anyways, I love your story, it seems to be getting better and better as I read on! :DD Keep up the amazing work c:

**Ed will be getting even worse, this is angst for a reason! I'm glad you like it and thanks a ton! You inspired me to write this chappy!**

****Victorious-Mind:

I think you should write longer chapters. Because you don't update a lot, you  
should at least write more. Anyways, it's an awesome story so far. Poor Ed. I  
am waiting for Ed torture! And angst... What deal did he do with the Truth?  
I want to see Mustang somewhere by the way. I always thought of Mustang as  
some sort of father figure to Ed so yeah...

**Don't worry, I'll be including Mustang soon, Fuhrer Bastard is actually worried about the boy after all. And I think that I'm gonna be updating more than I originally planned, so I'm gonna keep chappy's shorter so I can actually write them. I promise though, no less than 1,000 words. This one is 1,458. Without the author's note even! Four pages in Word! I'm aiming for about three pages per chappy so that it'll be sorta consistent. I might just update on weekends though, I'm really busy cause I'm in all Honors courses at school. And a year ahead in science... It's a huge pain... Stupid ass Camelot...**

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza_, _bossu_, and _Victorious-Mind _and anyone else who wishes to type in the magical box with the clickies. Pwease? Can you guys try and make my day for me? I have the next Chappy written for the most part... I might give you guys the next chapter today if I can get three reviews in the next four or five hours... Please? (Eastern standard time (US) that'll be about eight or nine pm...)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Wow guys! You're epic, really, you are! *squeals* 186 views so far and only three chapters! 114 of guys are from the US, but especially to those of you who are viewing where English isn't your first language, thank you! If there's weirdness with grammar and/or typos, please make sure you tell me, I don't have a Beta-reader (I am one though, I just can't edit my own stuff effectively...) This Chappy is dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza (Two chappies in a row even!) for being the first to review the last chappy. X3**

Chapter Four: The Result of Falling Asleep

Two hours later and Edward was out of paper and drifting in and out of consciousness while Breda was going over yet_ another_ battle strategy with him. Havoc was playing guard outside of the tent after retrieving more cigarettes, food, and a sling for Edward. He'd decided that seeing the left arm in a sling instead of the right was somewhat disturbing. Edward had also decided that his shoulder wasn't dislocated, so that was good.

Breda noticed the slight inattention of his newest trainee but continued to plow through. What he didn't notice was the rise in tension as the blonde drifted in and out. He was just going over the final piece of advice on guerilla tactics when Ed finally fell asleep for real. If there was one thing in the world that could give Mustang's close-knit team comfort, it was seeing the sleeping face of Edward Elric. When Edward slept all of the worries and guilt and _self-loathing_ he inflicted on himself vanished from his face and this time was no exception. Breda stopped to study the seventeen year old genius and brushed his hair out of his face before things took a turn for the worse…

It started with flickering eyelids followed by a low moaning. As soon as Ed started to shift around Breda stuck his head out of the tent.

"Go get Duncan, tell him to bring something new for Edward. It looks like it's gonna be a big-" Edward's invariable scream rang out at that moment and the Majors were up, Breda diving after Edward and Havoc sprinting for the med tent, praying that Duncan was still there.

His screams went on and on, gaining volume as time passed and his convulsions twisting his body in ways that weren't at all natural. It was disturbing to see, but the thing that disturbed Breda the most was that Edward kept trying to hit himself with his automail. His head was bleeding before long and Breda had quite a few bruises as well, with the most noticeable being a large fist shaped one on his left cheek.

Havoc dashed into the med tent in a panic. "Where's Duncan?!" he shouted, antsy on his feet. Edward could be heard from the med tent and Havoc was sure that the infantry and up would be gravitating back towards the new commander's tent.

"I'm here!" Duncan answered, rising from a desk in the back where he'd been finishing a report about the incident earlier and what the sedative had done.

"He's having a night terror, it sounds pretty bad," Havoc said, speaking as fast and low as he possibly could to the young doctor, "Breda said to get something new and to hurry. He's the only one with Fullmetal." Duncan nodded and went to the supply room in the adjacent tent. He emerged about a minute later with a few boxes in hand.

"Bandages and the like for Breda. Edward looked pretty heavy handed earlier..." Havoc nodded, understanding due to how many times he'd seen the kid fight. It took longer than he would've liked to get to Ed's tent; there were too many soldiers out of their tents and congesting around the Brig. Gen.'s screams.

"Move!" he commanded, pushing his way through with Duncan right behind him, "I said move damnit!" When a particular soldier didn't move fast enough his ranks were stripped off of his uniform. "Private Lawrence Wiggem, you're suspended. Report to the infantry until further notice." Havoc continued, worry deep in his gut but thankfully no more soldiers got in their way. Wiggem's example made them more than happy to scatter.

Havoc burst into the tent a moment later, Duncan attempting to be his shadow with how close behind him he was. Duncan ran over to Edward and Havoc made sure to shut the tent flaps securely. It wouldn't do for the men to see this; it was bad enough that they could _hear_ it. Duncan approached carefully but realized quickly that unless they got Ed strapped down to the point where he couldn't even _twitch_ they were never going to get the pellet of medicine into him. He turned to face Havoc.

"I need more people and something to hold him down to get the new medicine into him, but I can probably get the same sedative into him right now that we had to use last time. Do you think that'll work?"

"You're the Doc-" Havoc cut himself off as Ed managed to finally knock Breda off of him. He dove for Ed's hands, but missed by a millisecond. The clap sounded through the tent and a short blade was out of the end of his automail. Havoc jumped away and backed towards the doctor very slowly. Edward's eyes were open now and surveying the scene, but the vibrant life that usually filled them was absent. They were empty and only reflected back what they saw.

"I've seen this happen with him before Duncan," Havoc said, eyeing both Edward and the apparently unconscious Breda, "But when this happens he usually collapses from something or other and is useless for a few hours."

"What the_ hell_ happened to my friend?" Duncan wondered aloud, "Can you keep him occupied if he tries to leave? I'm gonna go get some help to subdue him." Havoc nodded carefully, noticing that Edward had twitched silently at the sound of voices. The alchemist's face was still blank though, so Havoc didn't know what was going to happen next. Duncan emerged from the tent, glad that the screaming had stopped. No one stood in his way though, they all recognized the brisk stride of a medic at work. Plus, Wiggem was still about and no one else wanted to be suspended. There had already been two that day after all.

"Breda?" Havoc asked his friend, still by the entrance to the tent, watching a still twitchy Edward. His friend didn't respond and Havoc was slightly worried. The two had known each other since the very beginning of the academy after all. He hadn't seen all of where Edward struck either, so there could be some significant damage to Breda. "Heymans?" he asked, trying to get his friend to wake by using his first name.

It seemed to stir the other Major after being repeated a few times because he moaned and rolled over. Unfortunately it was into Edward. In a flash (literally) the alchemist had transmuted the ground into a hand that thrust Breda up into the air and held him that way. Havoc drew his gun and aimed for a none critical spot that would incapacitate Edward if he had to shoot.

"Edward," Havoc said, carefully thumbing off the safety on his gun, "Now is not the time to go out on us, you survived through the Promised Day for Pete's sake! Wake up!" The blonde alchemist seemed no more aware than before, but he was certainly more agitated. Havoc placed his finger onto the trigger gently. "Don't make me do this!" he warned. Something loud sounded outside of the tent and as a result, Edward's hands went in for a clap. Havoc pulled the trigger.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Magicness is the form of QUERY ANSWERS! (Or review responses if you want it the normal way...)**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:

Aw, you're welcome c: and apparently I can now see why my friends get annoyed  
when I decide I don't want to talk... Anyways I can't wait to see what else  
you have planned under that sleeve of yours :)

**Yeah, I'd do that to annoy my friends, but I just can't seem to found where I put the jaw glue... (I talk A LOT) And don't worry, I've definitely got more than a few tricks up my sleeve! XD**

Kohaku The Otaku:

Wow! I definitely wasn't expecting an update that quickly. I'm really happy  
though, I want to know what happened to Ed!

**It kinda is a miracle that I updated as fast as I did... And that I'm doing it again... Don't jinx me! And don't worry, it will be revealed soon enough... *laughs maniacally***

Anonymous:Please post more chapters! This story is like the equivalent of a  
cigarette to Havoc for me... addicting! Love this so much!

**Aw! Thankies! I'd hope it's not too much like cigarettes though... If it is I'll be responsible for _cancer!_ *Cries* Thanks though, and my next update'll probably be tomorrow about this same time...**

lux the insane:love this fic!

**I'm glad you like it!**

Victorious-Mind:

Yayyy! Well, if you're going to update then I guess it's fine if you write  
short chapters! :D  
I forgot to ask one thing though (I might have forgotten or I might have  
missed it but) where is Al? Did he get his body back? Maybe Ed traded his  
voice for Al's body. I don't know, just rambling...  
Please update soon! I am waiting not so patiently!

**If I wrote longer chapters you'd probably have to sit on your computer and metaphorically claw my eyes out to get me to work... Well, Al hooked up with Winry, but I can't reveal any more than that or I will have to kill you! (JK, but seriously, if I tell you more it'll spoil the story!) Well, the one thing I can tell you is that Al is most likely involved. We'll have to wait until I know how it happened and figure out a way to write before I can show you guys...**

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melod_****_y-Laterza_, _Shortalch, Kohaku The Otaku, Anonymous, lux the insane, _and_ Victorious-Mind _for all of the epic happiness they're giving me currently. And thanks to everyone else too! X3 There's a magical box with clickies waiting for you...**


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey, sorry this is about an hour later than I said I would have it up, so I apologize for the lateness. Seriously though, I have no friggy idea how I'm getting this out... Anywho, this chappy is dedicated to _Shortalch _for reviewing the last chappy first. Enjoy~! X3****  
**

Chapter Five: Who Knows Him Best?**  
**

The gun shot startled Ed into full alertness an instant before the bullet slammed into his right thigh. He went down to his knees hard and suddenly saw everything around him. A note would've been scribbled out, but his hands were shaking too hard for him to grip the pen. He saw that Breda was encased in a stone fist, from the style it looked like something he had transmuted himself.

Havoc saw the questions in Ed's eyes and saw the blonde's mouth shape words, but no sound came forth from him except for heavy breathing. He stowed away the gun and stepped forward, guiding Ed into a laying position on the bed in order to bandage his thigh. When that was done, he noticed that Ed's eyes were similar to how they'd been a moment ago, but the alchemist was clearly paying attention.

"Hey Chief?" he asked nonchalantly as possible, "Do ya think ya can put you blade away? We're gonna be getting' a flood of medics in here in a minute and we don't wanna scare 'em." Edward managed a small nod and a short clap later and his automail was returned to how it was. He scrambled out of the bed suddenly, realizing that if he didn't get Breda down before the shock wore off the Major was probably going to be stuck there. Havoc saw what the blonde was doing after a moment and once the blue light faded to show an exhausted alchemist sitting next to a yet again unconscious Breda, he lifted the kid back onto his cott. He gave Breda a look and frowned. Stretching him out would have to do. So he did, and he waited.

Thirty seconds later Duncan burst into the tent, a team of field nurses behind him. It took about ten seconds to absorb the situation and twenty more for orders to be relayed. Before the Brig. Gen. could do anything about it, the med crew had him oblivious to the world so as to perform the surgery to remove the bullet from his leg. The other half of the team tackled Breda, haling him up onto a gurney after surveying his injuries. From what they could tell simply from his battered body, Breda had at least a major (Get it, Major? Like his rank?) concussion and three cracked ribs. Duncan watched the team for a moment before facing Havoc. The Major felt a heavy unease creep up his spine. Gone was the hesitant and slightly angry teen from earlier, in his place was a very strange man.

"Twenty seconds." Duncan demanded, syringe primed and at the ready. He could always say on the report that Havoc had been knocked out by Edward with a vicious blow to the head and that sedatives were necessary for him to stay under while he healed. It was plausible at least.

"He was about to use alchemy Duncan," Havoc replied, taking a cigarette out of his pocket, trying to light it with a match. Key word there, _trying._ You see, smoking in a tent/room full of doctors/field medics/nurses is very bad for the smoker's short term health. It was snatched away and a finger or two were probably broken as a result. No biggie.

"Why didn't you just graze him or grab him then?!" Duncan exploded, suddenly furious because he'd just remembered, Edward had practically been his _little brother_. Sure, neither one would admit it, even past the end of the world, and Ed was more Al's older brother than he was Duncan's younger brother, but it was still there.

"You don't know Fullmetal like I do Kid." Havoc replied, his tone sending warning bells ringing through the air for anyone with even a _hint_ of common sense to see. Unfortunately, Duncan seemed to be running rather low in the common sense department at that moment.

"I know him better than you do Major!" he shouted, throwing his hands every which way. One of the medics expertly snatched the syringe from his fingers before turning back to their work. "I grew up with him! Unlike you military _bastards_, I actually knew him as a kid!"

"Do you know how he got his automail?" Havoc asked, his temper rising as well. Usually he just got depressed when something didn't go his way (Girl #1,118,935,452 also goes to Fuhrer Roy Mustang! Major Jean Havoc still at a number of 0!) but Duncan was rubbing him the wrong way.

"He got them during an alchemic mistake training with his sensei!" Duncan snapped back, knowing the story that had spread along in Resembool as to why one of the 'golden boys' suddenly had two metal limbs. He'd kept in touch after all, Chris had still lived there until- He cut himself away from that thought.

Suddenly Havoc was escorting him out of the tent.

"Duncan, I'm sure this is the first time you've seen Ed in years. Calm down and think. Who's gonna know more about him? The soldier in the same team for the past five or six years or the friend who hasn't seen him in even longer?" Duncan gave Havoc a long, withering look. Havoc glared back, unimpressed. Mustang's half-assed glare was better. Apparently Duncan understood after it took a minute to sink in. His shoulders slumped and he leaned against the side of the tent.

"Look doctor," Havoc said, trying to lighten the mood a little, "I'm sure you know more about Ed's hobbies and stuff like that than I do. The extent of our 'off-duty' time together was generally off the books guard duty or 'I gotta go! See ya Havoc!' as he leapt out the window. Sometimes he didn't even do that much and just disappeared in the middle of the night. 'Specially if Mustang did something to piss him off." Duncan nodded and straightened back up, shoulders still slumped. Havoc recognized the look and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Hey, it's not your fault, 'kay?"

"Whatever. I got patients to take care of." Duncan brushed off Havoc's hand and went back inside of the tent to see the nurses wheeling Breda out.

"We'll be back in a minute Doctor Duncan," a male said, "Gotta get another gurney." A loud metallic _crunch _sounded first and everyone looked out to see Edward awake again. He'd kicked the cot's feeble frame with his automail and crushed a portion of it underfoot. Duncan looked between the exiting nurses, the few remaining, and Edward.

"Hey," he said, idea sparking, "Ed, can you transmute a stretcher out of the tent-" A clap and noticeable lack of one tent flap later and pole later, Edward was being carried out of his tent on a gurney with a very thin but steady frame. Havoc was worried though, Edward looked pretty rough. He waited until they'd sedated Ed again before going off to find a phone. It was time to call Mustang.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Yays~! Time to reward the people who typed in the magical box with the clickies! XD**

Shortalch:

Out out the thirteen updates in my inbox, I was most excited for yours. .

**Out of all the reviews I got, yours made my day the most. Thank you and I hope that you continue to enjoy!**

Firefly264:

Poor Edward :(  
This is getting really good, but didn't Ed lose his alchemy after the Promised  
Day? Well, whatever, he's a badass alchemist anyways.

Your updates are really fast, thank you! (But now I'm feeling jealous of the  
ninja update skills you have). The chapters aren't actually all that short (I  
mean, they COULD be longer, but they're a decent length now).  
Please update soon, I need answers! What happened to Ed?!

**Okay, yeah the alchemy thing does go down like that, but I decided to have something else happen. You'll have to wait and see, maybe I'll tell you... But maybe I won't... *insert maniacal laugh here* And I don't know how I'm getting this out so fast! I really don't! I was expecting _maybe_ twice a month of myself, but I'm managing to get everyday done... Creepy isn't it? And I'm sorry, if I go more than about a thousand words, this chappy is 1,158, then I won't get out a daily update... And don't worry, all will be revealed at some point...**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:

Jeje, I'm happy... And don't worry, I'll find see jaw glue and give you some  
maybe that would help. Can't wait to see what those other tricks of yours, may  
be :DD

**Woot! Jaw glue! Hm... *looks over at older sister* *gets sneaky idea* *two hours later Sister wakes up only to find her jaw is glued shut...* That may or may not count as a trick... Anywho, I think I know where I'm going with this... So thank you and the tricks will hopefully be as epic as I am happy right now. I mean, look at all this! I'm still posting!**

Victorious-Mind:

Oh my god, poor Ed. Maybe he had a traumatic experience with the Truth that  
caused him to do that. Well its not his fault he hurt Breda I mean he wasn't  
aware of it.  
If Al hooked up with Winry, wouldn't Ed feel betrayed? I mean if Winry fell in  
love with Al when Ed liked her then I guess he'd be pretty sad. Unless that  
isn't the case.  
NO! Havoc, don't shoot Ed! The last thing we want is Ed's bullet wound getting  
infected on the battlefied. o-o  
Thanks a lot for updating four days in a row! :DD  
Waiting for tomorrow ;D

**Mebe... Mebe not... You will eventually learn of my terrible (or mebe not) secret! XD And Al with Winry is in the note that Mustang wrote to Havoc, right? I didn't leave that out did I? *has panic attack* *goes to check that she did actually have the note in there* *heart attack stops as she sees that the note is in the first chappy* And poor Eddy-kun~! Well, if he wasn't so easy to torment I wouldn't do it... I mean, look at... Well... I got no example for ya... When you're the author it's kinda hard to reason against yourself... And NO! You've figured out my plan! *turns into ninja to assasinate you* *not really* Well, it'll get infected, but I'm not sure where yet... *gets another evil idea to torture Ed*  
...You know saying stuff like this just hurts him more right? So, in a way, you're torturing him...**

Anonymous:I seriously love how often you update this amazing story! I wish I  
could write as well as you do, and I can't thank you enough! May the writer's  
block never catch you off guard, because you have a lot of people cheering you  
on :)

**Thank you! I'm really glad you like it. And I was just wondering, wouldn't this be easier if you just made an account to review with? Then you could get alerts sent to your e-mail and stuff when things are updated. I've had my account for just over two years now and I've never had a problem with it getting my e-mail hacked or anything like that. And yeah, hopefully writer's block won't strike down this roll... Unlike every other roll I've ever had... Anywho, thankies for the review!**

**You know, I've had a terrible time today trying to decide whether or not to make you guys wait until Thursday for the chapter about Mustang because I know I wanna involve a couple, dare I say it, _OCs (!),_ to be an unbiased source about poor Eddy-kun~! Oh well, I'm still trying to decide... So, you guys wanna know what's going on with Rowe or should I involve Fuhrer Bastard? (I seriously just typed Col. Bastard... Yeah, I can't even keep my _own_ story straight in my head!) Thank you to _Shortalch_, _Firefly264_, _TwinkieHunt_, _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza_, _BlackPaperMoon82462_, _Victorious-Mind_, _Anonymous_, _uchihasong_, and _Ciel Farron. _You guys really are making my day. Also, thank you to all of you out of country/language comfort zone that are reading this! There's a magical box with clickies waiting unless they've changed it again...****  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**This Chappy is dedicated to TwinkieHunt for being the first reviewer for the last chappy. Enjoy! X3**

Chapter Six: A Bad Day

"This is Fuhrer Mustang's office, Gen. Hawkeye speaking." She was situated at a desk in an office that contained a private room, much like the office Mustang had before if a little bigger.

_"Hi General!"_ came a voice from the other end, _"It's Major Havoc here, I need to talk to the boss about Chief. He busy?"_ Hawkeye pinched her nose hard for a moment and took a deep breath, it'd been havoc (no pun intended) in Central all day, two homiscides were reported that morning and a suicide, by a _state alchemist_ was witnessed by an alchemic citizen; a women who was still half-hysterical. Mustang was actually speaking to her right now, the two had been in there a while.

"I'm not sure Major," she said carefully into the phone, "We've had a pretty hectic day here, the Fuhrer is still speaking to a suicide witness-" She was saved from continuing as the door to the inner office opened and a red headed woman stepped out. Hawkeye frowned for the umpteenth time upon seeing her. The woman had done nothing _wrong_ but there was something _off_ about her the Hawkeye couldn't put her finger on it…

"Thank you Fuhrer Mustang!" the woman called and a grunt was all the response she received in reply.

_"General?" _came Havoc's voice into her ear, startling her back into action, _"Are you still there? I really do need to speak with the Fuhrer, it's pretty damn important… Is he really that busy?"_

"I'm sorry Major," Hawkeye said, eyeing the woman as she left the outer office as well, "We've just had a busy day, as I said before. Anyways, the woman just left so the Fuhrer's free now. I'm not sure if he's in much of a mood to talk though…"

_"It doesn't matter,"_ Havoc's voice came through the lines firm, but still respectful.

"Alright," Hawkeye said reluctantly but not letting it color her tone, "Just a moment, I'll tell him you're on the line." She set the phone down on her desk and walked in to Mustang's inner office.

"Fuhrer Mustang Sir?" she asked carefully of the man who was sitting slumped over on his desk, looking for all the world like a kicked puppy.

"Yes Gen. Hawkeye?" he asked back without raising his head; not a good sign to Hawkeye at all…

"There's a phone call for you-"

"Tell them to call back later!" he snapped at her, "We're too busy right now." With that, he forced himself upright and pulled a huge stack of paperwork to him.

"It's Maj. Havoc Sir…" she trailed off as his eyes latched onto her face, "It's about Edward-"

"Hello?" Mustang asked, having snatched the phone off of the cradle on the edge of his desk.

_"Hello Fuhrer Mustang!" _came Havoc's cheery voice, _"Did Gen. Hawkeye tell you that I was calling about-"_

"-Edward," Mustang cut in, anxious to hear news of his subordinate, "What's wrong besides his voice?" Havoc gave Mustang a condensed version of what had happened earlier.

_"Boss, did you know about the night terrors? Why didn't you tell us?"_

"No Havoc. I didn't know." Mustang pinched his own nose, unaware that his Gen. had also picked up the habit from him.

_"Why would he hide it?"_ Havoc asked.

"I hide mine for quite some time Havoc," Mustang snapped, "And in case you didn't realize, Edward's at least had terrifying night mares since he was _eleven_. _Eleven_ Havoc! He probably kept them quiet because he considers them _normal_." Silence reigned for a few moments through the lines. The thought of a seventeen year-old boy considering torture to be… _normal_ was heavily disturbing.

_"So,"_ Havoc finally said into the phone, _"How does Alphonse feel about this?"_

"I have no idea." Mustang replied, rubbing his now aching head gently, "I really don't. I've been talking to Winry though, and she seems to think that something's wrong. He won't talk to her either though."

_"Well, with how Edward is, it'd be weird if he _wasn't_ being weird. Think about it Boss, it's his brother. Besides, they were gone an awful long time that day… Edward never gave you specifics did he?"_

"That makes sense Havoc," Mustang replied, "It makes sense. And no, he never did."

_"What _exactly_ did he tell you?" _

"He said 'He's out' before collapsing."

_"Is that the last thing he said?"_

"Yeah, that's the last time I heard Fullmetal's voice." Silence reigned again for a moment. "Two months…"

_"Boss,"_ Havoc said suddenly, panic evident in his voice, _"I gotta go, I'm putting Ed's Doctor on!"_ And he was gone. A muffled screaming came through the phone and Mustang felt his heart leap into his throat.

_"Uh,"_ came a newer, younger voice on the phone, _"Fuhrer Mustang Sir?"_

"Who is this?" Mustang snapped again, "Are you Edward's doctor?"

_"Yeah, I am. My name's Joey Duncan."_

"What's the situation?"

_"Well, the med staff are currently sedating Ed, the last round stopped already. It's troubling that they aren't holding him under, it'll be difficult to remove the bullet if he's screaming his head off like that."_

"What did you use?" Mustang asked, rummaging madly through his desk, "What was it?" He finally located a pen and a pad and scribbled down the name. Whatever the drug was, it would be researched thoroughly before they used it on Edward again. "And I don't care if you have to use the heaviest sedative there is, get him under and get the bullet out. If he loses another leg, it'll destroy him."

_"Another? You mean, his leg is automail too?"_ Duncan's voice sounded terrible through the lines, full of pain.

"Duncan, did you know Fullmetal before he went military?" It was the only explanation that made sense to Mustang, without it the doctor's voice was indicating he was slightly unstable.

_ "Yeah,"_ Duncan said, _"We went to school together when he was small, I'm two years older though-"_ More screams and the sound of something shattering came through the phone. Someone shouted _'Edward!'_ and the line went dead.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**And on that note, Royboy says goodbye. Anywho, time to reply to the magical box with clickies! X3**

TwinkieHunt:

I love your story so much! I recently finished reading Victorious-Mind's  
Replacement of a Father(I think that's what it's called) and have been  
searching for another fanfic to read. Yours is just what I wanted and I love  
your story so far! I feel so bad for poor Ed but then again Ed-torture is what  
makes me like fanfics so that makes me like this one a lot so far! I hope  
writers block doesn't come and ruin your ability to write!

**That story really is epic! It's one of my favorite ones on here! When I saw your review I even went and read it again and then felt really _really_ stupid because Victorius-Mind has been reviewing this and I didn't even know that Replacement Father was their story... Yeah... And thank you! It's kinda weird to be on this end of it, you have no idea! But yeah, there'll be much Eddy-kun torture~! It's just so much fun! XD**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:

... Man, I wish I could do that to my sister except that she is kind of a  
light sleeper... Mustang's coming, yay! I was wondering when he'd show up. O.o  
Hey OCs would be a pretty good idea, I know I wouldn't mind them. Depends on  
others opinion of it as well though. I still can't imagine the kind of trauma  
that Ed must've gone through to have it that rough. I've tried, honestly, but  
it just doesn't come to my mind...

**Eh, it depends on the day for my Sis. SOmetimes I open _my_ bedroom door and she yells at me for being loud... O.o ...I had this chapter written already today and didn't have time to do a different one. I don't know what tomorrow's chapter is gonna be yet either, I still have to figure out what I'm doing for it... Anyways, there'll definitely be a bunch of whatnot. And that's good for me that you can't imagine it... The Truth will just be that much harder to bear... *laughs chaotically***

gpianist:

This is such a good story, although I feel so bad for Ed! Poor guy, I wonder  
what happened to make him like this?! Anyways I can't wait to view the next  
chapter! Thank you for such quick updates - They are amazing! As Are you! :)

**Aw, thank you! And sometimes I wonder too... Then I remember that I'm the author and therefore hold the power of life-and-death over his head. Then I go about torturing him and getting a wrench to the head from Winry... It was terrifying, last time she pulled out a live wire! (It was all Winry! DX) Again I will say it, I have no idea how I'm getting all of these out... I'm studying for semester exams too! And thankies! X3**

Victorious-Mind:

I LOVE TORTURING EDWARD! MWAHAHAHAHAH! *starts laughing like a psychopath* I  
love stories where he just suffers and suffers and saves people and gets  
injured himself and suffers and kicks the bad guy's ass and SUFFERS SOME MORE!  
(Seriously though, I wrote fanfics like that. Where he just suffers... And I  
am currently writing another one. MWAHAA)  
Of course I figured out your plan, I'm a MASTERMIND! You can't kill me. And if  
it gets infected, it'll be on his leg of course. That's where it got injured.  
I'm going to kill Havoc. How dare you shoot ED! I would have preferred someone  
else shooting him instead. You're his friend! Grrrrrawrrrrrr...  
INVOLVE FUHRER BASTARD PLEASE! I love ParentalRoyEd! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!  
I'm waiting...Hehe 8D

**Wow, pretty passionate response. And I know you've written some, I've actually read quite a few of them. I went back and reread Replacement Father the other day (Replacement of a Father didn't seem like a bad title to me). It's one of my favorite stories! And I didn't mean where on his body he gets it infected, my dad was a dialysis patient for goodness sakes, I know _something_ about infections, I meant where Eddy-kun is when it gets infected. And see? I involved Fuhrer Bastard... See? He's on the phone, just scroll up a little and you'll see!**

**Thanks you to _TwinkieHunt__, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, gpianist, Arkxy-chan, _and _Victorious-Mind_ for everything you guys have reviewed/added to follow/favorite list. And everybody else who jumps on the bandwagon for this chappy!~ (This chappy was 1,009 words. Strange though, it was a FULL three pages in word... Must be all that dialogue... Yep. Still over a thousand though, so I'm safe!) Oh, and since the replies literally doubled the word count, I'm not gonna be putting reviews in the chappy anymore, just my responses unless I get more than one 'guest/anonymous' reviews.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**I'm sorry this is late... I have two words for you that should make me better though, 'semester exams'. And I'm at a Catholic School... Yeah, it is just like signing my own death certificate... This chappy is dedicated to Kohaku the Otaku for being the first to review the last chappy! X3**

"Col. Hawkeye!" Mustang shouted, slamming his telephone back down onto its much abused cradle. He sat back, thinking as fast as he possibly could as his subordinate appeared at his side with a smart salute to match the serious atmosphere.

"Yes Fuhrer Mustang?" she asked carefully. Uneasiness swept through her entire being as he looked at her with _those _ eyes. They were the ones he had worn in a time when he was on the brink of cold-blooded murder, killing that wasn't necessary, when he'd been consumed in hate during attacking the shape-shifter, Envy. Only this time, she was sure it was directed inwardly.

"It's time to leave," Mustang said after a moment, "We're going out to Western Command and from then, to the encampment. I'll get the tickets. You have an hour to pack. Prepare to join the war once again." The last sentence was said with some sort of irony, a cruel humor that they would be going once more to a proper battle field. They hadn't been to a field that was a predestined battle field since Ishval, although they had been in quite a few battles since. Truth just had a cruel sense of irony.

Hawkeye saluted again before turning sharply on her heel and marching out the doors. It took five short minutes to walk to her unused room in the barracks. She had her own apartment, so there was rarely a need for the basic room. One bed, one sink. The bathroom was down the hall from her room. Showers were in the rooms on either side of the corresponding gender restrooms. She took a sharp turn about in her small room and gently opened the closet which held an almost entire replica of her wardrobe at home. The exception was the party dresses. Mustang had her purchase them for some undercover mission long ago that had been the first of her now many covert operations. She fingered one's raven, silky material thoughtfully before stowing it in her suitcase. After all, her commanding officer was a strange man, one could never be entirely sure what he would plan next. It was best to be prepared.

Screaming was heard all through the camp and several men and women were exasperated with the constant sound. Sure they'd been worried at first, alarmed even as many had flashbacks to moments where comrades had died agonizing deaths. The screams were identical, if not worse. But it had been an hour since the current round had started and the time was 2300 hours. Several groups were going out to perform a raid on the Cretian encampment in the morning, so those people in particular were resentful of the noise that was presenting them from getting the rest they needed to survive. Without it, the morning could very well be their last.

"I wonder _why_ he's screaming…" one man wondered to his tent mates aloud, thankfully their own tent of people were off duty tomorrow, so they did not have to participate in the raid, "It must be something terrible. Did Lt. Jackson's group make it back alright? Was a bomb dropped on someone?"

"Nah," a second man answered, "Somebody told me they saw this kid in the commander's tent having a seizure or something. They said it looked pretty nasty. Have you heard anything about the new commander? I thought the Brig. Gen. was supposed to get here yesterday, but the only news I've heard about anyone knew is the brat."

"The damn _brat_ is the new _commander_." A soldier with short brown hair and green eyes cursed, "The kid is Fullmetal."

"Are you sure Rowe?" the first man asked in shock.

"Yeah," Rowe replied, "I'm sure. The brat suspended me. _Suspended _me! I've never been suspended before in my _life!_"

"Oh stuff it Rowe," the second man interrupted, "We don't need to hear you rant about being suspended. We've all heard that from Wiggem already. He got suspended by Major Havoc for 'not moving fast enough'."

"Shut up Rufourd." Rowe growled at Rufourd.

"Come on Rowe," the first man said, "We get that you're upset, but seriously? Knowing you, you probably insulted him. I mean, we've all heard tales of the fury of Fullmetal when he's called 'short'."

"You shut up too Roleign." Rowe growled, turning to face the canvas wall of the tent and yanking the covers of his cot over his head. The others rolled their eyes at Rowe, but agreed that it was past time for lights out.

At 0700 the next morning, the mess-hall was silent for the first time in camp history. Not even the customary clink of dishes and shuffled footsteps were heard in the dry air. All of the soldiers in the camp, sans the necessary guards and those conducting raids, were assembled outside, where a temporary dais had been set up. Sitting on the dais with Majors Havoc and Breda, was their new commander. Many were skeptical though, the three sat behind a table when during a speech one would usually stand. That wasn't what the loudest mumblings were about. Sitting in the commander's seat, was a seventeen year old boy. A very _famous_ sixteen year-old boy.

He had golden hair that was tied back in a braid and piercing golden eyes to match. His clothing wasn't the military uniform, not at all. He wore black leather and a red overcoat with a flamel on the back. The only typical thing that the soldiers could see that he wore were the white gloves, which were typical for alchemists in battle situations. The more observant soldiers were uneasy though; there were no transmutation circles on the gloves. Anywhere. And as far as they knew, it was impossible to transmute anything without a circle. So where were his circles?

They stood in the rank and file and at exactly 0705, Major Havoc stood, along with Major Breda. The teenager remained seated though, and as a few men noted, he sat in a wheel chair.

"Good morning men!" Havoc said, sounding cheerful as usual, but with a strained tone to his voice. The night had been very rough. Soldiers chanted back 'Good morning' without much feeling and Breda could tell that they were also exhausted from the screaming that had kept the Majors awake all night. Breda was slightly jealous though, they hadn't had to deal with thrashing, _automail_ limbs slamming into them.

"We've called you here to introduce Brig. Gen. Elric to you," Breda stepped in with, "As you might've heard, we had a very unusual person come into camp yesterday. I personally have heard him called a 'kid' several times, but if I were you, I wouldn't call him that."

"He gets offended pretty easily," Havoc said with a grin, "And, ya know… If you make this 'kid' too angry he can and _will_ suspend you." A bleary silence greeted the statement, most of the soldiers too tired to figure out what had been said. The ones who had noticed the wheel chair looked simply aghast though; their expressions were rather hilarious.

"This is Brig. Gen. Edward Elric, also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist." Several men and women had looks of inerrant shock upon their faces, joining the ranks of the already publicly humiliated soldiers. Several looked upon the seventeen year old with something close to admiration while others, mainly the older ones, wore one of disgust. Sure, it was rumored that he had saved the nation from terrible danger and rebellion (an even more vague rumor said something about killing an immortal being and returning souls that were stolen to the Amestrian people… But most dismissed those the instant they were heard. After all, no one remembered the mass black-out quite the same), but he was seventeen. And he'd made it to the rank of Brigadier General. It was unheard of, he'd beat Mustang's record ofyoungest Col. even and people had thought the Xingese looking man was ridiculously young.

The stood, waiting for the Brig. Gen. to stand and make a speech, but he didn't. Those who hadn't spotted that he was in a wheel chair before saw it now and only then did the soldiers begin to make the connection that it was the screams of this seventeen year old _boy_ they had heard throughout the camp the night before. Both women and men felt a sudden rush of apprehension in the air. What had happened to the young man to give him such a haggered face at seventeen…? And to scream like the Devil himself had come to take your soul… For a moment there was silence. Then there was screaming somewhere in the distance and the sound of an explosion. Hell opened its doors onto the camp.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Okay, it's that magical time where I answer the things typed into the magical box with the clickies!**

Kohaku the Otaku: **Yeah, the only thing he said after the Promised Day was 'He's out'. I'll try to let you puzzle out what that means... And I'm not really worried about the word-count, I just don't want to double it. If I didn't answer you guys on here, I'll probably forget who I have and haven't replied to.**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: **I've been told I'm good at goin' a lil psycho I consider it a very important skill because you never know who you have to freak the crap outta in life. And thank you for all your confidence, I'm just sorry that this chapter was late, I didn't get any time to type yesterday because I didn't get home until like 10pm and then I had to do a lab report that was due today and crap. It was really annoying...**

Joker Oak: **I'm glad you liked it!**

CreamsTheDream: **And you thought I was cruel last chapter... What does that mean for me this chapter? That I'm psychotic? *proceeds to laugh psychotically* **

Firefly264: **Firstly, I'd like to say that you are my favorite reviewer today! You left me this huge long juicy review! I'd compare it to giving a twenty oz. Sirloin to a poor man, but a) that would be cruel and b) this review isn't too much for me to handle! And I know, RoyEd in a yaoi story is _really_creepy! I hate reading stuff like that unless there's a fem!Ed, but that's a different story... And thank you! Duncan is based off of a character named Pitt who, according to Fullmetal wiki, lived in Resembool with Eddy, but he was only a few months older than Ed instead of a few years. They played all sorts of tricks on the girls... And yes, something bad _did_ happen to Chris, but it's more of a mental and dying of innocence than physical. Imagine Al without as much common sense but still with all the naievity and you get a _little_ bit of Chris... And nope! It's too much fun watching all of your brains turn to figure it out than to just flat out tell you. And besides, it'll ruin the story if I do! And I'm sorry that this update was late, I didn't want to make you cry! *sobs* Well, if it helps it's technically one and a half chapters... it's 1, 461 words...**

Victorious-Mind: **I'm kinda getting tired of writing all of these replies, but at the same time I'm really glad because that means this story is really popular! XD (I'm also loopy off of sleep deprivation...) And yeah, I decided no infection because then we can't really have the epicness that is Fullmetal, just the fails that seem to connect all Edwards. I mean, some people would say that Edward Cullen isn't a fail, but let's face it. He sparkles. That's gotta hurt his masculinity. Anywho, yeah, you guessed it. Fuhrer Bastard is emerging to battle! Bet you can pretty much guess the layout of the next chapter, can't you? And there just might be something going' on with Winry and Al, but I can't tell you, or I'd have to _kill you... _JK, but seriously, can't tell you! And the 'he's out' is _really _important, so you'll have to wait and see~!**

Noxy the Proxy: **I'm glad you like the fast pace! I need to practice some slower stuff though, I get wrapped up in everything too quickly otherwise and the snowball effect takes me by surprise. So, unfortunately, somewhere in the next chapter I'll probably be doing some really slow chapters...**

lexi100531: **I'm glad that you like it so much! *chuckles* Anyways, I'm good at the cliffies dangle, so expect worse.**

**Thank you to _TwinkieHunt, Kohaku the Otaku, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Joker Oak, CreamsTheDream, Firefly264, Victorious-Mind, Maki-Elric, Noxy the Proxy, _and _lexi100531. _Don't expect a whole lot this week, I'm not sure if I'll be posting at all due to my current hell. I kinda need to study or else I'm going to fail my class... Stupid Chemistry... Anyways, see you guys next time! There's a magical box with clickies waiting! X3**


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey there peeps! I'm on time! Sorta... I mean, I'm not a day late this time? I'm also Chemistied out... I seriously hate the class... Stupid, stupid class that I have 55% in... Anywho, this Chappy is dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza for being the first person to review the last Chappy~! Enjoy!~ X3**

Chapter 8: Lack of Ammo

"What do you _mean _that you can't get us to Western Command?!" Mustang shouted around 0900 the next morning from the nearest town to Western Command.

"I'm s-sorry Fuhrer Mustang!" the civilian stuttered, "I-it's just that most of the military c-came and t-took the cars around 0800… Something about an attack a-at the en-encampment!" Mustang cursed furiously under his breath and stormed off in the general direction of Western Command. Bases weren't generally in the middle of a town for a reason, with Central Headquarters being the exception, but in this case it was more impractical than he could possibly believe. He'd managed to get them passage aboard the last train last night in order to be here as early as they could, but they couldn't exactly load a car into the box car because it was a stream-line train. And that, along with the news of an attack, made for a _vey_ pissed off Fuhrer… Hawkeye apologized to the civilian before running after her CO. It was troubling to have no cars, but it would only take a few hours to walk… Scratch that, with news of an attack, they needed to be there _now._

_Almost two hours previously…_

The very first thing that Edward did when the bomb went off was exactly what every doctor and soldier had told him _not _to do. He used alchemy to heal the wound on his leg as best he could in order to fight. Havoc tried to stop him but only ended up with a bloody nose and an alchemist with a year shorter life span. If he kept doing that, he was going to die before twenty. It was a very sobering thought.

Roleign watched curiously as the blue light shone around the dais, despite the fact that he was simultaneously loading his rifle. One didn't get to be promoted out of infantry and all the way to Corporal for not having the ability to multitask. So he was only moderately when the kid, _commander_ he corrected himself, jumped out of the wheel chair and the pained look that Maj. Havoc gave the alchemist.

As the Cretain military descended upon the camp, it became clear that their raid party wasn't in the fray, and nor were they returning. It also became astonishingly clear that they were significantly outnumbered. The Amestrian military fought back though, with the strongest fighter of all being Edward. As soon as someone was in trouble, he was there with no concern for himself or how he just shortened his own lifespan. The soldiers who had been offended by his rank before now were faced with a concept that was alien to them. He had _earned _the rank. Mustang hadn't just given the rank to some brat who had been there by coincidence. Unfortunately, it seemed that the Cretian military knew that Fullmetal would be there.

They'd brought an entire squad of alchemists in the front line. Thankfully they were inexperienced for the most part, but there were a few among their ranks who were, unfortunately, well versed in the art of applying offensive alchemy. Ranking officers and infantry men alike fired into the ranks of the approaching army, but for everything man or women who dropped, two more took their place. The Amestrians were forced to retreat and the sounds of the altercation soon reached the Western Command, where some soldiers marched out to war, but others drove furiously to the city in order to retrieve more ammunition. They were scheduled to get a delivery later that day, but this attack changed things. If they didn't get every bullet in the city, they could very well be defeated…

Havoc and Breda fought from opposite sides of the battlefield, but Havoc still saw when a bomb was tossed in the general direction of his friend. He screamed his name in warning, saw the officer turn his head in the direction of the offending projectile… saw him manage to dodge. Relief blossomed in Havoc's chest, but not for long. A moment later, the other Major collapsed, clutching at his head as his gun clattered to the ground. A Cretian soldier approached, pistol cocked at Breda's head… Just in time for Edward to slice the barrel off of the gun and shove it through the man's chest. Havoc would have nightmares about that later, but could only think for Breda at that moment instead of the sign that Edward had lost some of his childish innocence …

He sprinted through the mess of confusion and grappling bodies to grab the incapacitated man and keep running. He got to the back lines and dropped him off at the portable medical station where Duncan was working furiously before diving back into the confusion. A flash of blue here and there was all that he saw to be sure that Edward was still alive, although he did hear the occasional soldier below a command that Edward signaled at him. Truly it was a miracle that Edward had learned them all, but then again, the alchemist _was_ always a prodigy.

A particularly violent alchemic reaction caught his attention and he almost lost his cool. They were creating _tanks_. Unfortunately, the Amestrians were almost out of ammo and Edward appeared to have vanished from the battle to re-supply them. Until the alchemist re-emerged from where-ever he was stocking them, there would be no one left to give the ammo to. A huge alchemic reaction went off behind him and an enormous cannon began firing shots at the Cretians. Trust Edward to save the day…

The fighting continued for almost another hour before any sign of reinforcements came from Western Command. When they came though, they came in spades. The sounds of battle are _very_ loud, but _very_ loud sounds also generally go farther than average sound and therefore take more time to reach. The fresh blood didn't have much in the way of fresh ammo though, just less exhausted soldiers that could temporarily take the front lines… Edward didn't pull back though, and his signaled-then-shouted commands were getting much more frequent as well as larger scale transmutations that sent devastation into the Cretian ranks. It appeared as though the alchemists in their group were slowly tiring out and Havoc found himself praying to whatever God that may or may not exist that Edward could hold out longer. Because if he didn't, the Amestrian force would be obliterated in a snap (Mustang wasn't present in the Cretian side of things, so it wasn't _quite_ literally. Quite. It could still happen though…).

Roleign had somehow managed to survive the first hour and a half of attacks in the front or near-to-front lines, but he was tiring quickly. And so it was that a bullet managed to nick his right forearm which stung quite a bit and the, while he was distracted over that, get himself shot in the shoulder. He went down and the Cretian man would've finished him off, but blue lightning traveled along a spike that was suddenly coming out of the ground from behind the downed soldier and stab through him. And suddenly the Brig. Gen. was there, scooping up the Cor. and carrying him back to the med station. Roleign, naturally, was embarrassed and tried to stammer out an apology, but the commander gave him a look that clearly said 'Shut up'. And so the wounded soldier was dumped unceremoniously onto an empty cot as Edward went back, yet again, into the battle.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Well, I do declare that it's time to reply to the thingies typed in the magical box with the clickies! XD**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:** Still, I'm sorry that it was late. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'm gonna be updating this week because of exams... But I'll probably guilt-trip myself into writing for an hour and then studying for an hour intermixedly. Oh, and thanks for pointing out the seventeen then sixteen thing in the last chappy, that actually was a mistake, it was supposed to be seventeen both times, I'll try and fix that now.**

Guest: **First, can you come up with some sorta name you type here so that I can reply easier? And second, yeah... I know... But I still hate the class. My teacher is as boring as _hell_ in class and sucks at explaining everything...**

Kohaku The Otaku: **I'm glad you liked the last chappy! I just hope that I don't fail anything, my mom'll kill me if I do. Plus, my ranking in my class last year was like, twentyfifth and I'd really rather not drop that... (And that was with failing my Algebra Final. I got a B in the class though... Yeah, I can't explain that at _all_...)**

Anonymous: **Firstly, every time I type that, I think of a mousse. Without fail. Secondly, yays! I like Hayates, they're so CUTE~! Kyu~! And I'll bear witness to the fact that having an account doesn't put your computer in any danger, I mean, the only even _slightly_ personal things you have to put are you e-mail and I can't remember if country is mandatory or not, but there's an option to not display it on here. Like, I'm in the US, but if I don't want it to say that, I can take it out of my profile and edit this so that it doesn't say that. And if she's worried about you reading something inappropriate there are filter options to block out profanities and stuff.**

lexi100531: **Abd just think, I'm not even done yet... *smiles evilly And Yays~! I like being the Queen of Cliffhangers~! XD**

Victorious-Mind**: ****You know, I'm too lazy to right click and click 'paste'... I'm just hitting ctrl v now... And thank you! I laughed at that part too. And you know what's sad? Even people who enjoyed the Twilight books bash on the characters...*points at self* I blame the movies!**

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, StreakingHerculobus, Kohaku The Otaku, Anonymous, lexi100531, Victorious-Mind, _and for doing all of their whatnot from the last chappy. Okay guys, like I told you yesterday, I have semester exams this week and I'm not sure how much I'll be updating this week because of it. I might be able to update on... *figures out day of study hall 'exam'* Wedenesday, but I'm not 1,886 or whatever it says. sure about before that. Oh, and this chappy was actually 1, 251 words, not 1,894 or whatever it says. Please type in the magical box with the clickies! X3**


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey there peeps! I should be studying, but I decided to write instead. It's even 1,379 words! You should all be both proud and mad at me! Proud because I updated and mad because doing this is probably going to get my PC taken away! THis Chappy is dedicated to Ciel Farron for being the first to review the last chappy! X3**

Chapter 9: The Fuhrer's Arrival

Rufourd stayed close to Rowe, the latter may be on probation, but he was still participating with the defense of their current position. They couldn't afford to be pushed back any more. The Fullmetal Alchemist had vanished from the battle field and no one was quite sure where he had disappeared to. He wasn't in the medical area or any of the temporaries that had been set up for patients who were immobile and no one had seen the telltale flash of blue or heard a signed-then-shouted command in just as long, if not longer. There hadn't been any large transmutations the last hour and Rufourd was worried.

Sure he could be sarcastic to a fault and often irked people around him with snarky comments, but he had a small soft spot for kids and had once been a prisoner of war. There had been torturer, not much, but he'd gone through it. A lot of his abrasive shell was just an act, so naturally he was worried for the golden blonde, although he hadn't actually met him personally. He'd seen him rescue Roleign though, and he was grateful for that.

Suddenly a huge group of engines sounded off from behind the Amestrian lines and there was momentary panic until they realized exactly what all of the civilian cars contained. Ammunition and reinforcements. Almost simultaneously, the Cretians also received reinforcements. They were in for a huge battle.

_Same time, city near Western Headquarters_

"Hawkeye!" Mustang suddenly barked. The suitcase carrying soldier raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes Sir?"

"I think I know a way to get us there, but it's probably going to be very rough-" A piece of chalk was shoved into his hand.

"Whenever you're ready Sir." Half a minute later they were flying through the air on a stone column, much like the ones that Edward used to travel during flights. IT hurtled them several hundred meters before collapsing on itself. And so the process was repeated for the next half hour until they reached Western Command.

They didn't waste much time, when they walked in and everything was empty, they rushed outside to listen… And heard the distant 'boom' of a cannon going off. Mustang catapulted them towards all of the shouts.

_Somewhere in an abandoned corner of the battle field…_

Edward Elric lay, unconscious among bodies of those who had died, taken down by the bullets that had gotten around the walls he had transmuted. One such wall had collapsed on top of him, which was why no one had seen and subsequently killed him. He was not in the state of sleep or rest or even night-terrors. Blood however, was dripping from the top of his head and his automail leg appeared to be bent the wrong way due to a particularly vicious tank that had barely missed the rest of him as it steam-rolled past. Something was also wrong with the wiring in his right arm and, were he awake, it would still be functioning, but at a huge amount of pain to the alchemist. Thankfully, he'd only been laying there for a half-hour, but he'd been fighting with the dead men around him for the half-hour previously. To the right of the collapsed wall lay the body of Private Lawrence Wiggem with his brown eyes glassy and staring unseeing-ly straight ahead. Other bodies surrounded the pair, and the whole group, counting the unconscious alchemist, counted seven in total.

Somewhere else on the battle field, people noticed the absence of six people in particular, amazingly enough, there had been very few KIA, only casualties in the sense of injured. Everyone noticed the lack of the Brig. Gen. though, and they were extremely nervous. Somewhere behind them came the whoosh of something heavy moving very fat towards them and soldiers in the med station turned, ready to fire… Only to halt as a stone column crumbled to end the transport of Fuhrer Mustang and Col. Hawkeye. Salutes were exchanged, suitcases dropped, gloves pulled on, guns reloaded, and the pair was off, without saying a word.

Even with the reinforcements they had received and the massive quantities of ammo, the front lines of Amestris were still being pushed back because the Cretians _were_ using offensive alchemy and the Amestrians, with the disappearance of Brig. Gen. Elric, were without an alchemist. Until a snap sounded and with a fanfare of fire, Fuhrer Mustang arrived. From then on, the entire tide of the battle was changed back on itself. Sure, Fullmetal had been a key factor, but Mustang was more experienced, and he was _pissed_.

The Cretians hurriedly retreated, passing the broken down section of wall without a second glance, a gleam of metal was spotted, but stopping to investigate wasn't an option with _Mustang_ on their tails. However, when the Fuhrer spotted the metal, sticking at all the wrong angles and all of the wrong bits missing, it meant so much more to him.

"_Fullmetal!_" he screamed. As he dove down to dig, a few soldiers moved to help him, those who saw the bodies of friends, but the majority of their army pursued the Cretians to the site of their original campsite.

It took ten minutes to excavate the wall completely; instead of just being one wall, it was a series of several walls that had collapsed. Unfortunately, Mustang couldn't just use alchemy to move the rocks, because he wasn't sure exactly who all was underneath of the wall. If someone was in just the wrong position, he could kill them by accident. He just prayed that Edward wasn't dead. As soon as the last huge chunk of rock was moved, the Fuhrer jumped into position and pulled his subordinate free. When he saw the state of the automail leg fully, he cringed. There was no way Edward would be walking soon.

"Someone help me get him to medical!" a soldier with light brown hair and green eyes helped to lift the surprisingly heavy alchemist; he might be small, but muscle mass was heavier than fat and automail wasn't exactly the lightest thing in the world. The pair half shuffled and half crabbed back towards where the medical station had been set up. Half way there, a team of field medics found them. They put the alchemist on a stretcher and the soldier who had come to help went with him, a bandage was wrapping his shoulder. A female medic put out a hand to stop him.

"You're Fuhrer Mustang?" she asked politely, just as a formality, after all, everyone knew who the Fuhrer was. He nodded quickly, sensing that what she was going to tell him was extremely important. "Alright, we had an incident yesterday, I'm sure you're already aware, but the Brig. Gen. was shot as a preventive measure because he wasn't conscious, but he was about to perform alchemy. I wasn't present for that, but I was one of the people who treated him afterwards. For him to be up and about earlier today, he had to have used alchemy to heal himself."

"He did what?!" Mustang asked, suddenly furious with his subordinate.

"I'm sorry Sir, but he did. And… I was also trying to help sedate him for the surgery. We couldn't even keep him under for five minutes Sir. He ended up being conscious during the operation."

"There's nothing you could've done about that." Mustang ran a hand through his hair, it was only 1030 in the morning and it was already a very _long_ day.

"Well, Sir… He also is suffering from night-terrors and if we can't find a way to keep him knocked out… He can't stay here." Mustang eyed the girl carefully, looking her straight in the eye, and nodded.

"Very well. You have my authorization and twenty-four hours to find a sedative that is _safe_ and will keep him knocked out for over an hour in small doses." The nurse nodded and scurried off, no doubt to inform Edward's doctor. After glancing around to make sure there was no one to see him, Mustang dropped down to sit on a small boulder and put his face in his hands. Why the _hell_ did Edward always have to end up in the deepest amounts of trouble?

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Ugh... This chappy was hard to write the ending for... And the dialogue with the nurse is all awkward... Oh well, it gets the point across. Anywho, time to reply to the stuff that was typed in the magical box with the clickies! XD**

Ciel Farron**: I'm glad you liked it!**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza**: Well, maybe not killed, but greviously injured is always a bonus. It gives _me_ an excuse to hide his shirt! XD**

Triforceofwisdom**: Thanks for reviewing!**

Joker Oak**: Eh, thanks for the help, but I still have to do well for the stupid exam. If I fail, my mom won't let me do my school musical in the spring!**

199**: Yeah, that was to you with the egg last chappy. And it sucks because she's a nice person, she sits with us bandies sometimes at the football game, she just really sucks at her job and no one's nice enough to want to talk to her. Sure, there are people who are fine without explanations that make sense and they fly through the class and make the rest of us look bad! And yeah, but Mustang's team still have to asauge their consciences now with the fact that they turned Edward into this, starting when he was _twelve._ I don't know about you, but that would give me nightmares.**

Victorious-Mind:** Poor Eddy-kun... I just can't seem to stop his torture... And see? Fuhrer Bastard is here now so it'll be okay!**

**Thank you to _Ciel Farron, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Triforceofwisdom, Joker Oak, 199, _and_ Victorious-Mind _for doing their whatnot in the last chappy. Anyways, like I've now said several times, don't expect everyday this week! I _might_, I repeat _might_ be able to update on Wednesday, but I don't know for sure because I have THeology and History on Thursday. If any of you feel the curiosity or the need to support me through my misery, here's my schedule.**

**Monday: Last minute reviews**

**Tuesday: Spanish II and Honors Geometry**

**Wednesday: Honors Chemistry and Study Hall**

**Thursday: Theology and Honors US History**

**Friday: Honors American Lit and Band**

**So, in other words, boring day, easy day, hellish then boring day, slightly difficult but still boring day, and easiest exams ever. For band, I have to play sixteen measures of music from a group of three songs. I have second part for two of them and the one I have first part on only goes up to high 'G'. Pff, my solo goes up to high 'D'. (I play trumpet for all of y'all who didn't know. This is my... *counts on fingers* seventh year playing trumpet. I've been playing since I was... nine and ten months old (I think?). There ya go, now you can guess how old I am too~! Okay, so I probably won't write to you guys again until Wednesday, like I said. Sorry!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey guys, I know I said I wouldn't be updating until Wednesday, but I felt kinda bad so I wrote a chapter. And besides, tomorrow's easy. Spanish (My mom is a Spanish teacher) and Honors Geometry are what I have. Anywho, this chappy is special because it's dedicated to two peeps! XD Ciel Farron and Victorius-Mind (because they live in Turkey and I'm in the US and time-differences are evil) Enjoy~! X3**

Chapter 10: Worries are Shared

Another hour had passed and it was _still_ touch and go for the small blonde alchemist. He'd lost way too much blood and several ribs had broken. Duncan was positive that one, if not two, had punctured the left side of his lung as blood was trickling out of the side of Ed's mouth. What worried them the most though, although to some level they were relieved as well, was that he wasn't screaming. They couldn't waste time on that fact though, they needed blood stat and they just didn't have enough at the camp. Every injured man that was stable enough to be moved was shipped to the hospital in town, returning the citizens' cars as well, albeit a bit bloodstained.

Mustang was dragged away from the med-tent by Col. Hawkeye because his body was only taking up space and the Fuhrer was only in the way. He was furious and felt like it was raining which of course it wasn't so that only made him feel worse. As his secretary/partner/he-wasn't-quite-sure-what-else dragged him away, he was stopped by the man with brown hair and green eyes who had helped him carry Edward.

"Um… I'm sorry to bother you Fuhrer Mustang," he said as the Fuhrer returned his salute, "But I was wondering if you'd heard any news on Brig. Gen. Edward?" Mustang looked the man over carefully. The young man had his right shoulder bandaged in a way that suggested a gun-shot wound and had several scrapes and bruises. Nothing life-threatening though, just inconveniencing.

"And who are you?" Mustang asked in return, seeing the stripes and stars on the shoulder that indicated a corporal.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Cor. Jack Roleign!" the corporal stood straight at attention once more, feeling incredibly retarded.

"At ease Cor. Roleign. Why do you ask about Brig. Gen. Elric?"

"He saved me out on the field Sir. Someone had shot me and I dropped my rifle. I guess he saw me because he flew in and a moment later he was carrying me away to the med station."

"Hm…" Mustang frowned. It sounded like Edward, but something… "Did he kill the Cretian soldier?"

"I… I'm not sure Sir. I know that he struck a killing blow, but there were a bunch of alchemists in their enemy, I don't know if any of them were versed in medical alchemy."

"If they weren't, would that man have survived the Brig. Gen.'s attack?" Mustang asked quickly, almost afraid for the answer.

"No, I don't think so Sir." Mustang visibly sagged for a moment before straightening up once more and replacing his mask of indifference.

"Thank you Cor. Roleign. All I know about the Brig. Gen.'s condition right now is that they're still working on getting him stable." When the soldier's face fell, Mustang pushed his own insecurities away and clapped a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Whatever Fullmetal did, it's not your fault."

"I know that, it's just… I'm useless and carrying me must have taken up a lot of energy that he could've used elsewhere…"

"Don't give yourself that much credit," Mustang said with a smile, "During the revolution, there was… Something happened and I lost my eyesight. I was completely useless and Fullmetal ended up carrying me out before completing one of the most difficult transmutations, if not _the_ most advanced transmutations I've ever seen- well, I couldn't see at the time, but you know what I mean. I couldn't do anything to help and felt like I was just in the way. But he saved us all without being the worse for wear if not a little exhausted." Roleign looked up at the Fuhrer with something akin to amazement in his eyes. This man, the leader of the nation, was taking time out of his busy schedule to assuage _his_ fears of causing harm to the new commander. And he was sharing a story that was rather personal too.

"Th-thank you Sir."

"Just remember to protect those underneath you, have them protect their underlings, and so on until not a single soldier is left without someone watching over them. I told Fullmetal that and that's why he saved you today, so that you could survive to protect those under you. If he saw you like this before the revolution, he'd say 'you have two good legs. Stand up and use them'. As crude as it is, I agree. Stand up soldier, and go take care of your men." Roleign nodded and turned to run to where the infantry men he was in command of sat in a group near the edge of camp, waiting for orders.

"That was very nicely done Sir," Hawkeye said to him as he turned away from the group with visible effort.

"Eh, wasn't all that much lieu- I mean col. Damn these ranks, it's all a pain…"

"But it's like you said Sir. We need to protect those underneath us and that's why we have these ranks in the first place." Mustang gave her an amused smirk before turning to a passing soldier.

"Do you know a place where we can rest? We've been on a train since…"

"We slept on the train here." Hawkeye said, saving her superior from his sleepless night, "Do you have an extra tent where we can rest?"

"Um… I don't know about an extra, but since the Brig. Gen. isn't using his, you probably can…"

"That'll be fine." Hawkeye assured the worried infantry man with a glance back towards her superior.

"O-okay." The man led the way to Edward's tent, which had been repaired already from the construction of the gurney, and left them at the entrance.

"Sir," Hawkeye said as soon as the pair had secured the flap, "Lay down get some rest. I'll keep watch."

"But you were awake just as long as I was Col. You take the first sleeping shift-" The click of a 9mm revolver silenced him as it was cocked.

"_I'll take the first watch._"

"Yes Col.!" Mustang collapsed onto the bed as Hawkeye took the one chair in the room and positioned it near the front of the tent. The Fuhrer closed his eyes and fell asleep. He'd woke up what felt like a moment later as screaming rang our through the camp. Where the Cretians attacking again?! He checked that his gloves were on and Hawkeye reloaded her gun from where she'd been half-dozing in the chair and the pair sprinted out, ready for another invasion in the now dark camp.

There was no one outside. It wasn't until an even louder shriek rang through the air along with the mighty blue flash of alchemic lightning that they realized who was screaming.

"Edward!" they shouted in unison, running towards the med-tent.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Time to answer the things typed into the magical box with the clickies! XD**

Ciel Farron: **If I told you whether or not Eddy-kun was okay, I couldn't leave you with cliffhangers like this, could I? And I don't know how I'm managing... *head meets desk***

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: **That hiding place wouldn't happen to be under your bed, would it? And what do you play? Besides trumpet I also play clarinet, mellophone, and piano.**

Victorious-Mind: **Tada! I did that to make you feel special because you are my favorite person today for that review! XD (I have a fav person everday! XD) And yeah, I forgot that you were out in Turkey... Your English really is ammazing! ^^ And I've been on here since I was... I think just before my fourteenth birthday? Anyways, your writing is SO much better than mine was at fourteen! How old did I seem to you?**

****colonelduckie:** I didn't even think of it like that! And I _love_username!~ Kyu~! XD**

lexi100531:** O... kay?**

Anonymous:** Thank you! Especially since I didn't feel like I did a particularly good job with descriptions last chapter... Hey, hey, I play clarinet too! I've been playing since May and I don't squeak anymore! I even stole one of friends music (she plays first) and sightread on the clarinet! I did almost as well as she did and she's been playing for _years_ so she's really good. And I'm glad I could help! It took me a while to convince my dad to let me have an account too, so don't worry about it. When you review though, just let me know so that I know it's this awesome person that I'm speaking to!**

**Thank you to _Ciel Farron, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Victorious-Mind, Pineapples2daMAX, colonelduckie, lexi100531, Anonymous _(maybe-soon-to-be-not...)_, _and_ Lauren-kun. _Okay, I seriously have to go study now... And possibly sleep... Yeah, since it's almost midnight I think I'll go do that because I didn't sleep yesterday night... (Isn't that an oxymoron?) Yeah, let me know if you guys spot any mistakes cause I don't have a Beta Reader and I'm exhausted, remember to type in the magical bos with the clickies, and depending if I actually do what I'm supposed to or not, I might hear from you again tomorrow. Byes! XD Oh, the word count for the Chappy is 1,127! X3**


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**You know, I really do need to study in stead of updating... But... This story is just too much fun to write! T_T Oh, and this chapter is special because this is a) my fastest updated story ever. On the planet! and b) It is now my most reviewed story with 52 reviews as of typing this! You peeps seriously make my day! (Well, ya kinda ruin it too because this is distracting me from studying for semester exams *coughchemistryisevilcough* but let's focus on the making my day part.) This fabulous chappy is dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza for being the first to review the last chappy! Enjoy!~ X3**

Chapter 11: A Taste of What Happened

_Blood_,_ there was _blood_ everywhere and _**nothing**_ he could do would stop it._

_ "ALPHONSE!" he screamed, reaching towards the armor that the blood was pouring from, "ALPHONSE! COME BACK!" He dragged himself, pain from his newly re-missing limbs renting him in two, "COME BACK!" But the armor continued to run, leaving the alchemist alone, bleeding out onto the white floor of the gates of truth. Tears poured down his face and he struggled forwards, drawing an array in his own blood to speed up his travel. The floor, the walls, the ceiling (if there was one) might not be able to be transmuted, but he knew the exact composition of his blood, down to the last molecule._

_ Several hundred feet later, he passed out, only to wake up in a different memory._

_ "So what do you say Edward? Does that sound fair? The woman you love for the brother you claimed you would give _anything_ for? Hm? No? Well then, back you go, until you give me the right answer." White non-eyes stared into the gold eyes, and a white non-mouth grinned. "Oh, but don't worry. You'll still have company." Pain again, until he passed out again._

_ "EDWARD! ALPHONSE! You… You're back!" a sobbing Winry embraced the two _brothers_ somehow not seeing the way the older one tensed, backed away…_

"Edward!" and bolt upright he went, the scream in his throat cut off as he was left, gasping for breath.

_'Ohgodit'smyfaultwhycouldn'tIjustsay'takeme'andgetitoverwithohgodohgodoh godohgodohgodmyfaultmyfault myfaultMYFUCKINGFAULT!' _were his thoughts and it didn't stop until a white gloved hand passed in front of his face. The person behind the hand didn't register in his conscious mind, but it did in his subconscious and he launched himself into the man's chest, sobbing silently.

"Edward?" to say Roy Mustang was surprised when the blonde alchemist, who had only a moment previously been screaming at the top of his lungs with automail beating at his head, launched himself into the superior officer's chest was a drastic understatement. Considering that the sobs racking the seventeen year-old's small frame were silent, it was understandable to assume that the boy was once again conscious. "Edward?" the Fuhrer asked again after a moment. He received no answer, but the alchemist suddenly ripped himself away as Roy's arms came down awkwardly around him.

Edward's eyes looked empty again and Mustang was having a terrible time deciding what to do. The Fuhrer had gotten there in time to see some of the alchemist's suicidal tendencies in action and wondered how the hell the boy had managed to hide them. He'd even hid them from his brother, at least from what Mustang understood, before he'd up and decided to go full time in the military barely a week after the pair came back from the gate.

"Fuhrer Mustang?" Hawkeye asked tentatively, placing a hand on her superior's shoulder, ignoring the doctor (she believed his name was Duncan) who sat at the end of Edward's bed with a notepad and the alchemist's pen in case he decided to communicate again.

"It's fine Col." Mustang returned after a moment. The Fuhrer turned to Duncan. "Let me see that." Duncan passed over the writing utensils without comment and stood to inject yet another sedative into Ed's system. This would be the third, hopefully it would work…

Mustang drew the transmutation circle quickly, and very efficiently. He shoved it under Edward's eyes before the sedative had a chance to do much. The blonde's eyes widened considerably and he shook his head, slowly at first and then rapidly until it looked like he was having a seizure. Mustang watched the word 'no' pull at Edward's mouth and then more, but sound wouldn't come with it. This confused the Fuhrer to no end and he passed the pen and pad to Edward, but the alchemist could only write three words before he passed out once again.

_Truth would kill_

Those three little words meant so much and Mustang's eyes widened considerably. He tore out the two pages before anyone could see them and a moment later, a flame died out, leaving ashes in his hands. Before Hawkeye could ask, he could sense her curiosity, he stood.

"I heard that Major Breda was here."

"Yeah," the doctor answered glumly, "He's in tent 32-A with Major Havoc and Doctor Lumore."

"Thank you." Mustang turned on his heel, ignoring the small alchemist behind him and heading for the tent that Duncan had mentioned. Hawkeye followed at his heel and the pair made the short walk in no time at all. Just as they got there, a man emerged from the tent. It was an old man with dark skin and a long, white, and thin beard. The most startling fact was the red eyes in the man's kind face. He was an Ishvalan.

"Hello Fuhrer Mustang," the man said quietly, "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Who are you?" Mustang asked, quickly enough that the man knew he was on guard, but not fast enough to give cause for alarm.

"I'm Riolan Lumore, Major Havoc's doctor."

"What's his condition?"

"He appears to have a late acting concussion and three cracked ribs. The ribs are tapped up and Major Havoc is scheduled on right now to make sure that he stays awake." Lumore's tone was swift, but not hurried. He knew the information was important to be passed on, but it was also hard to forgive the man in front of him for the death of so many of his people.

"Sir…" Mustang said quietly, "I know that no matter what I say you and your people will continue to hate me, but I truly do feel guilt for everything that happened in the Ishvalan Civil War."

"Fuhrer, it is not my place to judge you, only Ishvala can do that. But I thank you for your words. Why don't you go inside? I'm sure your men would like to see you." The old doctor shuffled off and Mustang just closed his eyes and sighed while Hawkeye placed her hand on his shoulder once more.

"Let's see Breda." Mustang said, pushing off the col.'s hand and opening the tent flap.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Time to answer those magical thingies typed in the box with the clickies! XD**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:** Yay for hiding shirts! I get the clean one though, all those bloody ones are pretty much dead so you can't wear them and show them off to all of your friends! And: Sweet! The clarinet I play is whatever matches trumpet.**

colonelduckie:** Look at me and my magical updating! *looks guiltily at Chemistry textbook* And thank you, that really makes me happy that you like it! I'm sorry this chappy is so awkward...**

Amber Hastings**: And the review award of the chappy for bestest review ever goes to you! Thank you _so_ much for your feedback. I'm working on the whole detail with battle scenes thing and I'm planning on goin back and fleshing them out a little bit. Thank you for making that comment, it's really helping because I wasn't sure if I was going too fast with them. Like I said, I'll work on that. And hopefully this chappy got you thinking... It got me thinking and I know what's gonna happen! I'm not sure if I'm gonna do a full flash back though... Hopefully this gave you a hint as to the outcome! XD And... Erm... I understood most of that...? (Refuses to use translator/mother to understand) You wished me good luck and... something with my writing...? Maybe? (I'm only in Spanish II! I barely have el preterito down! *cries*) JK, preterito isn't the problem, it's the stupid irregular reviews... Stupid things... Even if I only got part of it, thank you. I checked my mail this morning and it was there and I was like, oh my gosh! Someone cares! Thank you so much! (Can you tell me what the second part you said was? I think it meant something along the lines of 'I wish you much ... for... we... and something else. I can't think right now either which is another reason I'm not working... *coughchemcough***

Victorious-Mind:** And now the world makes sense! I'm really hoping to be this fluent in Spanish one day... *looks at chem* but apparently Latin would help more right now... I now what you mean though, except I always expect people to be older than me... o.O ...Yeah...**

**199: To bad I can't do to proofs what I do to Eddy-kun... And I literally walked up to a friend and said 'Watashi wa shinigami-da porque el examen fue muy mal' when I finished... Ya... Japanese+Spanish=Math. Yep, that makes sense. (That means 'I am a soul reaper because the test was very bad'. You know you watch too much bleach _when_...**

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, _**_**colonelduckie, Amber Hastings, Ciel Farron, Victorious-Mind, RinzlerIsTron123, **_**and **_**199. **_**You people are my favorite! This story has 52 reviews, 1,415 views, 13 favs, and 20 alerts. This is seriously making my day. I think that makes this my... third most alerted, third most favorited, most reviewed ( XD ), and second longest fic! Yay! Alright, I'll try and see you guys tomorrow, but Chemistry might kill me first. Oh, and just to state the obvious, I HATE Chemistry. Edo can be a magical alchemist who can do anything, but I'm a High School student who struggles with polyatomic ions. If you're a freshman or a sophmore (I'm a Sophmore) who's taking this class next year, the best advice I can give you is to study you _*ss_ off and you _might_ survive. I repeat, _might. _Anywho, this ya!~ X3**


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey! Guess what! I am not yet dead, I can dance and I can sing, I am not yet dead I can do the Highland Fling, I am not yet dead, no need to go to bed, no need to call the doctor cause I'm not yet dead! I will give you a picture of a bunny if you know what that is without looking it up! Well, this chappy is dedicated to Victorious-Mind for being the first to review the last chappy. Enjoy!~ X3**

Chapter 12: The Effects of a One-Person Philosopher's Stone

Mustang strode into the tent to see Havoc on a stool next to the cot that Breda was propped up on.

"Status?" he asked, wanting to hear what the two had to say.

"…Migraine…" Breda said through clenched teeth. His eyes were shut and he looked as if he was in a great deal of pain. Mustang waited for more for a moment, but the redheaded man didn't continue.

"What happened before I got here?" Mustang demanded, irritable from his lack of sleep and due to Edward's condition.

"A small raid party went out this morning around 0400, but it was supposed to be more of a scouting trip than a raid party. Their mission was to test the defenses on the Cretian camp discreetly and to see if they could determine how many soldiers were there." Mustang nodded, it was a fairly standard operation, he'd ordered it plenty of times.

"Go on…"

"Well, I was helping with… Edward… So I wasn't there at the exact moment they departed. 2nd Lt. Scott told me it went off well though. At 0700 we had all the men we could gather without compromising safety so that we could introduce Edward as the new commander." Mustang chuckled softly, imagining the faces of the troops. Havoc grinned at his commander and dove through the rest of the explanation. During the few minutes it took, neither man paid attention to Breda. Once Havoc finished though, he looked towards his friend and felt his heart stop.

"Breda?" he asked gently. Mustang watched intently but the redhead offered no response except soft breathing. "Breda?!" Havoc asked, panic rising in his chest, "Heymans! Wake up!" He shook the other Maj.'s arm.

"…Stop it…" Breda finally muttered, "I just… wanna sleep…"

"You have a concussion Breda!" Mustang snapped, "And I don't want the damn paperwork so you better stay awake!" Breda opened one eye with tremendous effort.

"…I know… And besides… who else would… keep Chief outta… outta trouble when you're… busy…?" Breda grinned at his boss, "That Pipsqueak isn't gonna… kill me with this…"

"Of course not Maj. Breda," Mustang said, "I expect to see you up and moving within a month's time." That said, Mustang turned to where Col. Hawkeye was waiting at the opening to the tent. "Col.?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Keep an eye on Maj. Breda. I need to speak with Maj. Havoc alone."

"Yes Sir." Mustang walked out of the tent ans Havoc, with a nervous glance towards his friend and Col. Hawkeye, followed after him. He had an inkling of dread at the lecture he was sure was about to come his way.

Mustang led the way back to the tent where he'd slept with Hawkeye guarding him. He'd made sure to memorize the route he'd taken with the scream so he could come back and use it if need be. Several soldiers saluted him on the way and he dismissed them quickly with one of his own while being glad at the same moment. As Fuhrer, no one could really interrupt him, with Edward being the exception, without fear of consequences. And the only reason Fullmetal could pull that off was because he had the support of the public even more than Mustang did.

He set a very brisk march, never once looking back to make sure that his subordinate was following him. Jean Havoc may be many things, but a coward would never be one of them. When the pair reached the tent, Mustang entered first and sat on the cot, letting his exhaustion show as he put his face in his hands and pinched his nose.

"Havoc," he said tiredly, "My Rook is out of action and my Checkmate is failing to take effect because of the damn twist."

"By 'twist' do you mean-"

"Fullmetal." Mustang affirmed, without looking up.

"What's gonna happen to him?" Havoc asked nervously, wishing Mustang would get to the chewing him out part, "He can't really be commander if he's keeping the tropps awake all night." Mustang just frowned into his face and let out a sigh.

"I'm not sure Havoc, but what you did sure didn't help." Havoc just stood at attention, wary of his CO.

"Sir, if I hadn't shot him, we all could've ended up dead, not just Breda with a concussion!"

"That's not what I was referring to Major."

"Then what…?"

"You let him heal himself with alchemy." Mustang dark eyes glared into Havoc's blue eyes. "Do you have any idea how much that shortens his life span?"

"Uh… I know it's not good for him Sir, I tried to stop him, but the bomb-"

"I don't want any excuses Havoc. Healing a gun shot wound took at least half a year off of his life span if we're lucky, and at most two years. Seeing how pitiful of a state he's in now, we're probably looking at about a year lost, considering this isn't the first time he's done this."

"What do you mean Sir?" Havoc asked, truly just trying to distract his CO a little so that he didn't get burned to a crisp. After all, it's hard to get a girl friend if you're dead…

"During the time Fullmetal was missing before the Promised Day, it was because he was healing from having a steal beam thrust through his side. It happened after he fought that maniac, Kimblee. I heard he shaved at least a decade off with the energy he used from Knox."

"You mean…?"

"Fullmetal is gonna die young Havoc, and if we keep letting him do this, he's gonna end up dead right before our eyes."

"I'm sorry Sir, I didn't know…"

"Just don't…" Mustang trailed off suddenly, listening intently to the silence in the air around him. "How long have I been with you Havoc?" he asked.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes maybe?" Havoc guessed, "Why-"

"Listen!" The two sat there in silence for a moment.

"I don't hear anything-"

"Exactly!" Mustang marched out of the tent, even faster than before, "Either something terrible has happened or the situation has changed. Get Col. Hawkeye over to the med-tent and keep watch over Maj. Breda."

"Yes Sir!" Havoc replied, understanding in his eyes. The least effect tranquilizer hadn't even knocked Fullmetal under, but the most effective sedative had only worked for about ten minutes. Either something unspeakable had happened, or they'd found a sedative to keep Edward under. Either way, they were on to their next step.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Time to reply to the things typed into the magical box with the clickies! Kyu!~**

Victorious-Mind:** Oh, it's so easy to mess with your mind... And don't worry, I'll do something more with 'he's out' in a later chapter. Just not this one. And yes, Eddy-kun did do something. But I'm not gonna tell you what yet! XD**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:** Yay! Now I'll have two of you leaving me awesome reviews! XD And don't worry, there will eventually be more flash-backs! XD**

Joker Oak:** You didn't find my draft did you? You're spot on!**

colonelduckie:** Nope, I'm just a half-dead monk hitting myself on the head with a book. And I'm really glad you like it! I hope this chappy was good too, because it was really evil...**

Lauren-kun:** It's kinda sad that this isn't a more normal fanfic though. The 'ever-after' stories are always more fun! XD**

199:** Hurrah for confusing author's! Except when you're the reader because you want to kill them! Please don't kill me! Aywho, the nightmares are kinda horribly misconstrued memories, so they're part of it in a way.**

karmadella1234**: NOOOOOOOO! Not Olivia! She's scary! (To all of you who are not this awesome sauce chick, we're talking about a girl who's actually in our GS troop named Olivia, not the northern wall of Briggs. Although she's terrifying too...)**

Triforceofwisdom:** I'm glad you like it!**

lexi100531:** I'm not sure yet. There might be in one or two chapters, but not next chapter. (I think. I haven't written it yet, so I'm not sure...)**

**Firefly264: In that case, I will probably have a flashback sequence next chappy! XD**

**Amber Hastings: Is it sad that I had to go look up her review again even though I only looked at it a minute ago...? Yeah... And I can't tell you that yet but it's really important so make sure you remember it! And yes, Eddy-kun is really good at the whole self-sacrificing thing... It's kinda sad... And part of that will be revealed next chappy! And thank you for that note, it really made my day. And it probably went well, so here's this! XD**

** ()()**

(_)  
O| |O  
** o-o It's a bunny! (Maybe...)**

**Thank you to __****Victorious-Mind, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Joker Oak, colonelduckie, Lauren-kun, 199, karmadella1234, Triforceofwisdom, lexi100531, Firefly264, annakiwi1, Amber Hastings  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey, look at me being all fancy! Two chappies in one day! ANd now, you finally get to see part of the past! Mua ha ha ha ha! Anywho, this chappy is dedicated to Pineapples2daMAX because they reviewed the last chappy and because it's their birthday! XD Enjoy!~**

Chapter 13: Flashback: the Truth to the Silence

One quick clap later and he stood in front of the gate. Three figures were there to meet him. One was Truth, one was Alphonse's body… And the third was the armor.

"Al?" he asked, unsure as to what was happening. He knew that the armor had stayed back in Amestris, Alphonse's soul should be in his body… The body looked up at him and frowned.

"Why Brother?" it asked, "Why? I don't… I don't want this… My soul is still trapped in here! Why Brother? Why'd you-"

"Separate us?" finished off the armor, its eyes coming to life, "Because you got automail, there's no way to… To put us back together!" His little brother's face was filled with such pain and anguish that Edward felt his own heart stopping.

"Then… Then take it! Take my automail, it doesn't matter to me!"

"But you promised-" the armor started

"That we'd get our bodies back together!"

"We can… I'm not as important Al!" he turned towards Truth, "Take my arm back, take my automail, take my ports, I don't care! Just get him back together!" Truth's grin split its face and Edward was suddenly afraid. He really should've phrased that better… An ear shattering scream rang through the air and Edward hit the ground at the same time. His brother ran and Edward saw why.

Blood, there was blood everywhere and **nothing** he could do would stop it.

"ALPHONSE!" he screamed, reaching towards the armor that the blood was pouring from, "ALPHONSE! COME BACK!" He dragged himself, pain from his newly re-missing limbs renting him in two, "COME BACK!" But the armor continued to run, leaving the alchemist alone, bleeding out onto the white floor of the gates of truth. Tears poured down his face and he struggled forwards, drawing an array in his own blood to speed up his travel. The floor, the walls, the ceiling (if there was one) might not be able to be transmuted, but he knew the exact composition of his blood, down to the last molecule.

Several hundred feet later, he passed out. When he came too, it was still white bleak surroundings that greeted his eyes. In front of him sat a white non-being with a grin that didn't quite exist covering his face. The grin split its face even wider open.

"You won't give yourself over to me Mr. Al-che-mist, so how about this instead? What do you say Edward? Does that sound fair? The woman you love for the brother you claimed you would give anything for?" Edward's eyes widened at the question. How could the bastard ask something like that? He couldn't… Not Winry!

"No," Edward struggled, to say, "Just… Not anyone else… Al wouldn't… want that…"

"Well, he wouldn't want you to give yourself either. So, back you go, until you give me the right answer." White non-eyes stared into the gold eyes, and a white non-mouth grinned. "Oh, but don't worry. You'll still have company." Pain again, until he passed out again.

He woke up with pain shooting through him once more, but was groggy on what. Someone next to him let out a moan and he turned. His heart skipped a beat as he looked into the gray eyes. It looked like… But he hadn't… He couldn't think and therefore didn't protest as the… Person… helped him up. As soon as he stood, a door banged open and someone threw themselves towards the pair.

"EDWARD! ALPHONSE! You… You're back!" a sobbing Winry embraced the two brothers somehow not seeing the way the older one tensed, backed away… "I was so worried; you've been gone for forever!" The older brother hopped out of her grasp, away from his 'little brother' until he fell, which was when they noticed. His limbs were gone, along with the ports.

"Brother!" the 'younger brother' cried, stepping towards Edward. Edward started to roll away, not being able to do much else. When 'Alphonse' chased after him, he rolled to the hill and let gravity take over. "Brother!" 'Alphonse' shouted even louder. Edward felt something hit him in the head and the world went fuzzy as he rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill.

"Brother, Ed, are you okay?" Edward couldn't do more than watch with half-lidded eyes and a throbbing pain in his stumps. Hands started to grab at him, to lift him, and he hollered.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" and he was thrashing as hard as he could with two limbs and a stump. He connected with something with, amazingly enough, the remainder of his left leg. The pain shot up, searing along his entire body with a pain from a leg that wasn't there. He screamed again, this one pure, wordless agony until something touched his forehead and a voice whispered into his ear.

"_If you can't be quiet, I'll have to take your voice too. After all Mr. Al-che-mist, we wouldn't want the game to be boring, would we?_" It was supposed to be Al's voice, but it wasn't! It was… He couldn't concentrate and the world went even fuzzier. Apparently someone had heard him screaming because he could hear footsteps. The person-who-wasn't-Alphonse-but-somehow-was backed away from him and pain shot through his right shoulder the same way it did for his nonexistent leg as a hand brushed it.

"Fullmetal?" a voice asked in disbelief. He opened his eyes blearily, still feeling the effects of whatever he had hit. The man in front of him wore a navy blue uniform and had black hair and eyes, arranged in Xingeses features. He helped him sit up. Suddenly, his head cleared as he looked at the man and clawed his way up, using handholds on the man's clothing. The not-Alphonse looked at him and frowned, similar to the way that Alphonse would, but at the same time it wasn't like Alphonse at all. _His_ little brother would be helping him stand. _His_ little brother would be kind, sweet, and wouldn't make him tell the other man this.

"_He's out!_" was all he managed before a new pain emerged, this time in his throat. He barely had time to register the fact as his head met the soft grass again and he passed out.

Mustang stared at the unconscious body in bewilderment before looking up.

"...Who…?" and then he saw the man standing next to Ed's automail mechanic. He had light brown, almost golden hair that fell to the shoulders of a very broad body that was covered in Edward's coat. The eyes were gray and stared into Mustang's eyes so much like Edward's that Mustang had no doubt about whom the young man was. But he asked anyways.

"Alphonse?"

"Yes Sir…" But then… what did Edward…? He looked down and saw that Edward's limbs were gone. Upon closer inspection, so were the automail ports that had held them. What had he payed to get his brother back?

"What did he give up?" Mustang asked sharply. The man, supposedly Alphonse, shook his head.

"I don't know… I just… I can't remember… I remember him reaching out for me… But then… Nothing. I have no idea what Brother gave up…"

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**And on that note, I respond to the thingies typed into the magical box with the clickes! XD**

Pineapples2daMAX:** Happy Birthday! I hope you like my b-day present to you! XD**

Victorious-Mind:** Did I magically update fast enough for you? Hm? Or is two on the same day too much...? No, I probably won't do this again, it's just because I feel bad because I left you guys hanging all week... And I'll give you a hint. It's cold where I live right now and we just got the most amount of snow we've had in a few years about a month ago. It's also near a very large lake... It might even be eerie how close it is...**

TwinkieHunt:** You know I live for those. Anywho, d'ya like this chappy? I worked really hard to get it out today! And if I didn't have all you guys reviewing, I'd be very sad! I work hard on this stuff and you guys are the reason!**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:** I have succeeded in my ambition to confuse everyone! Yays!~ Anywho, d'ya like it? Did I do well? Is it confusing?**

Ciel Farron:** Not quite James Bond... I'll leave that for what happens next! XD**

colonelduckie:** Well... with how I'm going poor little Eddy-kun's heart just might give out! JK, it'd be more epic than cardiac arrest if Eddy-kun dies. And thank you, I wanted to cry when I wrote that!**

199:** *depressed* No more bunnies then... I'm actually quite sad, that's the first time I've tried that... And yay! I've succeeded in torture! Psychologically anyways. Physically will come... Maybe...**

lexi100531:** Pff, like I'd let the Pipsqueak die that easily. I've still got more torture planned for him!**

**Thank you to _Pineapples2daMAX, Victorious-Mind, TwinkieHunt, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Ciel Farron, colonelduckie, 199, lexi100531, lexi100531, midnight13731, Justia, _and_ DaughterofDante. _You guys make my day! Yeah... This prooves I have no life... I wrote this while watching Breaking Dawn: Part I, so if it sucks, I blame Robert Pattinson. He was much sexier as Cedric Diggory. Also, the only men allowed to sparkle are General Sparkly (aka Alex Louis Armstrong) and Sig Curtis. Edward Cullen is not nearly cool enough to sparkle.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**If this chapter sucks, I'm sorry. I found out yesterday that a very close family friend died the day before. This chapter, instead of being dedicated to a reviewer, is dedicated to her. I'm really going to miss her.**

****Chapter 14: A Preview of Winry

Mustang ran at a breakneck pace to the med-tent and entered at just the right moment so as to knock into Duncan.

"What's happening?" he demanded, not wanting to waste another second. The doctor sorely got to his knees and Mustang repeated the question.

"Well," the doctor said sarcastically, "I probably have internal bleeding somewhere on my back that'll lead to bruising and-"

"I meant with Fullmetal." Duncan took his time to finish standing and gave the Fuhrer a glare that, while not being nearly as good as the Fuhrer's, sent chills down his spine. Mustang didn't let it show on his face though, and gestured at Duncan to proceed.

"He's finally under, for a couple hours I hope."

"How?"

"I took a look at all of the sedatives that he has a record of being on and crosschecked to see which active ingredients kept him under as opposed to which sedatives did. Then I just looked at all of the ingredient listings and checked that. It took me all day to do that while I was still guessing in the dark for Pipsqueak." Mustang strode over to Edward's bed for a minute and as he saw the seemingly peaceful face, a wave of exhaustion swept over him. He almost fell, but Duncan caught him as a pair of light footsteps reached the opening to the tent.

In a flash, Col. Hawkeye was at Duncan's side, helping to lift Mustang onto a cot. Once the Fuhrer was there, she glared at him.

"Sir, please go to sleep."

"I don't need sleep Col.," he retorted, his calm voice almost thwarted by the very thing he was trying to push away, "I need-" The click of a safety being released echoed in Mustang's eardrums.

"Go. To. Sleep."

"Yes Col…" Mustang finally stopped trying to sit up and closed his eyes. He literally couldn't remember the last time he'd slept through more than two or three hours, if even that. Since Edward was taken care of and he knew exactly where his men were… Maybe he could sleep. Maybe. But he'd keep one eye open.

"Al!" a girl with long blonde hair shouted, "Where are you?! Alphonse!" Alphonse, her boyfriend didn't answer. She frowned, her brow creasing between two beautiful blue eyes. Something was wrong again with the Elrics and she didn't know what. What she did know was that neither was acting themselves. She waited a moment longer at the foot of the stairs and then walked back to the kitchen to fix a plate to carry up.

"Those silly boys," she said, scooping peas up, "They never tell anyone what's bothering them. I can understand part of why they didn't tell me during…" She unconsciously rubbed a hand across her chest, where the cold chasm of torture had ripped away her soul. It had been terrible. "So cold…" she murmured. She shook it off after a moment and finished fixing the plate.

"Stupid humans…" 'Alphonse' whispered from where he sat in his study. He wore brown slacks and a white button down shirt, "You don't know how much you have. Still though… It's amusing to play with you all… Especially Edward…" A crazy grin spread across his face. "After all, where would _I _be without Mr. Al-che-mist!" And he laughed softly before returning to his book.

"So this is how they describe my gate?" he asked, turning it this way and that until Winry knocked at his door. And he smiled again. "Foolish humans…"

_He stood at the crest of a tall hill, one automail hand reaching in front of him, stretching for a red stone that danced just out of reach._

_ "NO!" he shouted, "Come back! I _need_ you!" Still though, no matter how far he reached, it would never come. And then he realized something. He wasn't alone. There were bodies all around him, squishing him down, molding him into something else. He screamed, but couldn't hear his own voice._

_ Where he'd been standing a moment before fell the red stone that was now him. It rolled down the hill, towards the homes of all that he loved. In its wake lay stone, covered in dead bodies. First his mother, then Winry, Pinako, and all the other people of Amestris. The final body was that of his brother, Alphonse. He screamed and thrashed and kicked, but still no sound came forth. Then Alphonse's face changed, shifting into familiar non-features that stared at him. Everything but Alphonse with that face so _wrong_ faded away._

_ "Hello Mr. Al-che-mist," it teased him, "Have you come for your brother now?"_

The Fullmetal Alchemist sat bolt upright, a half-scream dying in his throat before it ever made it into existence. It was terrible, that same dream again and again and again. If it happened yet another time, he'd never sleep again! But, as he sat there, soaked through with sweat, he realized that something had been different. But what?! He didn't know, couldn't think enough to puzzle it out. Also, the dreams… They hadn't… For part of the time while he slept, they'd been… Gone…

"Edward?" a voice asked from beside him, "Are you awake?" Ed turned one golden eye heavily to see his commanding officer. He nodded and returned his face to his one remaining hand. "Did you… Have a nightmare there, at the end?" Edward nodded again, this time without looking up. He'd seen enough monsters for one day, he didn't need to make someone else look at one.

"Do you wanna talk-" Mustang caught himself, "Write about it with me? I've got experience with some pretty gruesome ones myself…" A shaking head quickly put down his offer. Mustang sighed again and placed his own face in his hands. Just the perfect time for the doctors to be gone too. He glanced over to the opening of the tent where the sun was just barely peeking over the horizon. Hawkeye sat in a chair, gun across her lap, sleeping. She'd perfected her method many years ago, his own voice was the only one that would not wake her at the drop of a pin.

Mustang stood after a moment of staring and straightened up his uniform.

"I'll bring you back some breakfast, anything you want in particular?" This time, the tiny alchemist didn't even shake yes or no at the Fuhrer. Mustang shook his own head and walked away. What was he going to do with his subordinate?

**AUTHOR'S REPLIES**

**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: ****Thank you. I'm glad you loved it.**

**Lauren-kun: Truth took possession of Al's body. I hope this chapter cleared that up a little bit. And Edward had to get new automail because Truth took away his automail and ports.**

**colonelduckie: Yeah... Don't say that again please... I'm glad you liked it, I'm sorry though. I'm not going to be updating nearly as much anymore.**

**Alchemylover19: All will be made clear with time.**

**Pineapples2daMAX: Glad you liked it! And again, happy b-day (belated)!**

**jmtothemusic: Oh my gosh, it's the mysterious first-ever reviewer for this story! I'm glad you liked it, and yeah, I've had people tell me I'm good with the cliff-hangers...**

**FemGenjyo Sanzo: THat means you're the same age as my little sister. o.O**

**Triforceofwisdom: Thanks!**

**Firefly264: I hope this clears up some of that confusion! And thank you, I barely even edited that last chapter...**

**AngelaAngel: And the answer presents itself...**

**THank you to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Latzera, Lauren-kun, colonelduckie, Alchemylover19, SkySkyXAnime, Shnugthenerd, Pineapples2daMAX, jmtothemusic, FemGenjyo Sanzo, Triforceofwisdom, Firefly264, Amber Hastings, AngelaAngel, and AkemiClover27. I'm probably only going to be updating twice a week from now-on because otherwise I'll fail Chem.**


	15. Chapter 15

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Um... Yeah, I planned to update this on Sunday... Guess we know where that plan went... This chappy is dedicated to 199 forr being the first to review the last chappy. Enjoy!~ X3**

The rest of the morning passed in silence once Mustang had returned to the med-tent with breakfast. When he came back to the tent, Hawkeye had gratefully accepted her share without a word. After three hours of Edward not moving, Mustang gave up and walked out of the tent.

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked uncertainly.

"He's not even eating Col," Mustang hissed, "And I have duties to take care of. I need a strategy meeting, stat."

"Do you want to stay here while I gather them in the commander's tent?" Hawkeye asked politely, already knowing of the answer that was to come.

"No." Mustang said pointedly, "But… I suppose you should get Fullmetal there, so that we can involve him. He's out of it, but he _did_ fight them…" Hawkeye nodded and saluted her superior as the Fuhrer walked away.

Mustang walked through the tent, already familiar with the layout despite only having been there for one day. It was always the same in any Amestrian military. It was the same as the camp he'd spent time in during the worst period of his life: the Ishvalan Civil War. He shook his head to rid himself of the morouse memories and continued to the meetings tent. It was located in precisely the center of camp. As luck would have it, there was a meeting in progress as Mustang walked up.

"I don't care _who_ this brat is, if he keeps us up all the time he's a liability! I vote we get Mustang to demote him outta here!"

"No way!" a second voice shouted, "That 'brat' is the Fullmetal Alchemist. Mustang would never demote him, the public would have him court-marshaled, doesn't matter if he's the Fuhrer or not. You get that popular with the public-"

"And you're too well known!" a third voice cut in, "I agree with Trussel, it's too risky for Elric to stay here. No matter what he does, his face is plastered across Amestris and every other nation around."

"But he's still important!" the second voice cut in, "Besides, what'll we do without him? If he hadn't been here yesterday, we would've been crushed!"

"Well…" Trussel trailed off, "I mean; but we still had casualties!"

"Six out of six-hundred forty-seven is a pretty damn good number, Trussel."

"Shut up Perkins," Trussel snapped, "He might have some use, but he's more of a liability! Right Hughes?" Mustang couldn't wait any longer and burst into the tent. If some jackass was using his best-friend's name, then he was going to snap faster than even when he'd fought Envy. When he walked into the tent, an enormous surprise met his eyes.

* * *

Winry sat outside, by herself in the warm air. Alphonse was still asleep inside and that gave her some time alone, some time to think, some time to worry. She leaned her head against her house and closed her eyes tiredly. Alphonse simply… Wasn't Alphonse anymore. When he'd first come back, everything had been perfect, he'd proposed while Edward had been in the hospital. She'd been astounded at the unexpected question. If she was honest, then she'd tell herself that she had expected that from Edward maybe, but not his brother.

When Edward came back from the hospital and seen the ring on her finger, he'd snapped. Not even a week had passed before he'd written the newly promoted Fuhrer Mustang that he would be remaining in the military and therefore would require a mission as soon as possible. Winry just couldn't understand. Alphonse had just gotten his body back; shouldn't the two want to be together?

At first, it seemed like Alphonse was trying, but Edward just avoided him. If Al wanted to help with Ed's automail the way he had countless times when he was in the armor, Ed would run like it was the touch of the devil himself rather than his little brother. Why though? She didn't know. That, along with her more recent suspicions about her fiancée, told her that something was wrong. Alphonse… Wasn't right. And Winry didn't know why.

"What's going on?" she murmured, pulling herself to her feet. If she couldn't figure out what was going on, and fast, she could very well lose the two people she cared for the most. She walked back into the house to start breakfast and just as she was starting to heat the skillet on her gas stove, the phone rang.

"Hello?" she aksed.

_"Is this Winry Rockbell?"_

"Is that you Major Havoc?"

_"Yeah._" The sound of several people shuffling around came through the line, followed by a loud moan, one that she recognized without a doubt.

"Is that Edward?!"

_"Yes. That's… Part of why I called. We were attacked a few days ago. Ed got hurt pretty badly and-"_

"He didn't break his automail again, did he?" She put fury into her voice and clenched her wrench tightly in one hand, but she was shaking.

_"Yes, both of his limbs were destroyed-"_ A loud shout came from the other end and Winry recognized it as Edward without a doubt.

"Is he unconscious?" That kind of shout was only the kind of shout that Winry knew him to make when he was in a great deal of pain.

_"Shit, sorry, somebody got behind on the sedation. We need you to come out here with materials, Chief's not in any condition to be moved." _More shouts came through the line and Winry heard them escalate into pure screams of terror.

"Edward?! What's going on there Major-" the phone in her hand went dead as footsteps came down the stairs behind her. She turned and saw what should be her fiancée standing there in his duck patterned pajamas. Something was wrong with his smile. A moment later, she was screaming.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS REPLY MODE**

199**: Thank you, you're the only one who even said anything about it; so trust me, it didn't sound cheap, it meant a lot. I got to play taps at her funeral this past Saturday. And I didn't even know how I got the idea of Truth as Al, I just kinda went with it and ended up here. And what do you mean by 'consider a tutor'?**

**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: Yup! And I'm not gonna make it easy for Mustang! XD**

**karmadella1234: I told you I'd have this SUnday... Guess I lied... You better have your chapter ready for me tomorrow!**

**Triforceofwisdom: Did this chappy help or make it worse?**

**Victorious-Mind: Really I'm just saying this for everybody else, but yes. I live eerily close to a rather superior lake. (If you don't know US geography, none of you will understand that _great_ joke.)**

**AngelaAngel: *stares in silence* *bursts into mad laughter* Oh, that's precious, you think I'm going to be _nice_ to them!**

**Thank you to _199, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, karmadella1234, Triforceofwisdom, Victorious-Mind, animecutie610, AngelaAngel, tarooso, Demy Nom- The Spaz, _and _Lenalee111 _for doing all of their wonderful whatnot.**

**Status Update for the Story:**

**Reviews: 90 #1 spot**

**Views: 2,737 #3 spot**

**Favs: 22 #3 spot**

**Follows: 32 #2 spot**

**And thank you to the two people in Finland that have viewed this. I don't mean to sound racist, but all I have to say is Monty Python.**


	16. Chapter 16

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**And now we learn of the magical trickery that is the new Hughes! This chappy is dedicated to karmadella1234 because she is a super ninja. Enjoy!~ X3**

Chapter 16: Planning

Mustang stared at the three men standing over maps, fury evident on his face.

"_Hughes?!_" he hissed, "Did I hear that right?" The man at the back of the table stepped around and stood eye to eye with Mustang. His build looked like the former investigation officer's, but he was shorter and had sandy blonde hair. The green piercing eyes behind glasses were exactly the same though.

"Maes was my older brother." The officer said stiffly, holding a hand out to shake the Fuhrer's, "Shouldn't you already know that? Being his best friend and all? Or is being Fuhrer so important to you that you forgot about your friend?" The Fuhrer took his hand, forcing his creature of rage back down his throat.

"First name?"

"Louis." Mustang stared down Louis for a moment before turning to the other officers.

"Unbiased opinion on Elric. You start." He pointed to the taller soldier with chin length brown hair and hazel eyes.

"I'm 1st Lt. Reed Perkins. We can't survive without him. No offense meant to you Sir, but if he wasn't here to start with we wouldn't've survived the attack." Mustang nodded and raised an eyebrow at the next soldier.

"1st Lt. Fultro Trussel. Sure the brat saved some lives, but we still had casualties. And besides, if he can't shut up at night, he can't stay. It puts the men in danger."

"Hughes?" Mustang asked, turning to face Maes's brother.

"2nd Lt. Hughes," the man snapped back, "And I'm split about down the middle. Elric's invaluable to us, but he's also a liability, just not as big as 1st Lt. Trussel thinks.

"Then he stays." Mustang commanded, "Col. Hawkeye should be bringing him in any minute now, and we need to discuss a strategy for what will happen next time because I can't stay much longer. If they get me, we all go down."

"What do you mean?" Perkins asked, curious at the man's expression.

"Because Fullmetal is only seventeen, Perkins. Whenever someone dies in combat, he blames himself. I'd bet you the use of my alchemy that he pushed some soldier out of the way or sheltered them with his body when that wall of his gave out." For a moment, it seemed that even Trussel was shocked. He'd never been an alchemist himself, but he'd heard stories of the great deeds of the Flame Alchemist and how much that title meant to the man. That meant that he was telling them that Elric had definitely earned his position.

"What the hell do you mean exactly?" Trussel asked. Sure, the kid must've earned the damn position of Brig. Gen., but that didn't _exactly_ explain what Mustang meant.

"He's been through hell Lt.," Mustang whispered vehemently, "Now shut up. He'll be here-" The tent flap opened and the four men looked over to see Edward being pushed in by Hawkeye in a wheelchair. Trussel looked at the two missing limbs and felt his eyes bug out slightly. He'd heard that the kid had automail, but the way he'd moved suggested that he didn't… Edward held up a note that he'd already written on the way in.

_'Status?'_

"No sign of the Cretians yet Brig. Gen. Elric," Perkins reported, saluting the higher ranked soldier. Mustang looked to see that Hughes had stood up straight at the very least pretending respect, but Trussel stood there, jaw hanging open at the sight of two missing limbs. He hid a small chuckle and turned to look at the current immobilized alchemist.

Mustang remembered the time that Edward had his arm destroyed in a fight against Scar. Thank goodness that no one was teasing Edward this time because Mustang had a feeling that Ed would retreat again like he'd done this morning. He couldn't understand why, but he felt fiercely protective of the small seventeen year-old. If Trussel made any unwelcome comments, he'd be barbecue faster than he could pull his gun.

"What type of information did you find about their alchemists, Fullmetal?" Mustang asked, pinching his nose. He stood there for a moment with frustration rising as his subordinate scribbled out a quick note, almost losing his notebook in the process. Winry would have to be called; maybe Havoc could accomplish that. After all, if there was another attack and Edward didn't have his limbs replaced, he could very well be killed.

'_Most were shitty. It took them at least a full minute to draw a basic transmutation circle for stone and another five to activate it. Four or five of them were at a slightly higher level, but not any higher than Yoki's crony back in Yoswell.'_

"That bad?" Mustang aksed in disbelief, "Then how the hell did they manage to get you this bad Fullmetal?" Edward looked away from Mustang, his grip tightening subconsciously on his pen. Mustang did not look away though and saw how Edward's eyes darkened. So it was as he thought; Edward had tried to sacrifice himself to save someone else. It didn't appear to have worked.

"Who was he?" Mustang asked, leaving the other officers to make the jump for themselves. Edward didn't write a single name; he just took a deep breath and pushed his bangs out of his eyes with his hand.

'_How many?'_ he scratched out after a moment. Thankfully, Perkins seemed to catch the leap of logic.

"Only six died," the lt. offered, "Without you we would've lost so many more." Edward nodded, accepting the unspoken threat. They six (Perkins, Trussel, Hughes, Mustang, Hawkeye, and Edward) spent the next hour dissecting the moves of the Cretians and what could've happened to the raid team. It was ultimately decided that while the small team was probably KIA, for now they would only be labeled as MIA. At least, until they could find the bodies.

As the time grew to be 1300, the men broke for lunch. It seemed that whatever funk Edward had been in that morning had returned and Mustang was close to the last straw.

"Why the hell won't you eat?!" he shouted at the handicap, "Are you _trying_ to kill yourself?! What would your brother say?!" Mustang almost immediately regretted bringing up Alphonse because Edward flinched like he had been struck. After a moment to cool off, Mustang lifted the sandwich once more and offered it to Ed. "Eat." This time, Edward took it and ate a small bite.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLING REPLIES**

karmadella1234:** Don't hurt me, I was sick! Oh, and you should send me your chapter so I can BetaRead it for you!**

199:** Yeah, I've been asking for help from one of the seniors in my band class. And I don't care if you mention it. I failed second quarter too... I got a 'C' for the semester though! XD (Be proud of me for passing the semester!~) And no, he can talk, I just can't type... I went in and fixed it. (I think) And I can't tell you what Truth did to Winry yet... Although, Edward will get violent when he finds out! XD**

Firefly264:** I prefer WinEd too, but for this story it wouldn't have worked out because this way I get to torture Ed emotionally even further! Kya!~ I might write a WinEd one-shot though, because they are the best couple ever!~ (Even better than IchiRuki...)**

Ciel Farron:** Interesting thought, but Ed knows what he's doing when he's awake. When he's asleep though, Truth kinda destroys his self-control. And ya can't go wrong with a good fantasy mystery, yep yep yep.**

GUEST:** See, I wrote more, you don't have ta beg! XD**

Alchemylover19:** And the sorcery is explained! It's just too much fun to torture all the characters; I couldn't resist!**

colonelduckie:** Thankies! XD**

DarkLink'sShadow:** I can see that you've had a lot of sugar/caffeine, haven't you? And thank you, that really made me happy. And thanks about the love part, it's much needed. I played Taps at her funeral, so that was really sad.**

Victorious-Mind:** Yay! So, I succeeded at being creepy? Kya!~ OH, you'll see eventually... And did I get enough Parental! RoyEd in here?**

lexi100531:** Especially the purple ones.**

Triforceofwisdom:** SUCCESS!**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza:** I just couldn't type last chappy... Thanks though, I went back and fixed it. And we may or may not be getting a flash of real Al here pretty soon...**

**Thank you to _karmadella1234, 199, Firefly264, Ciel Farron, Guest, .7, Alchemylover19, colonelduckie, DarkLink'sShadow, Victorious-Mind, lexi100531, Triforceofwisdom,_ and_ Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza._**

**You should all feel bad for me because I had to stay at home today and missed an hour-and-a-half of band! And I have an ear infection! (At my school, we have block days. On Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, we have a normal schedule, but on Tuesday we have our odd numbered classes for twice as long and on Wednesdays we have our even-numbered classes. So, I have Spanish II, Honors Geometry, Honors Chemistry, Study Hall, lunch, Theology, Honors US History, Honors American lit, and then Band on regular days, Tuesdays I have Spanish II, HOnors Chemistry, lunch, Theology, and Honors American Lit and on Wednesdays I have Honors Geometry, Study Hall, Honors US History, lunch, and then band!)**

**And this is the bestest chapter ever because we broke the 100 review mark with the last one!~**

**Reviews: 102 #1 spot**

**Views: 3,054 #2 spot**

**Favs: 23 #3 spot**

**Alerts: 34 #2 spot**

**I'm going to post a WinEd one-shot tomorrow for you guys; be on the lookout for it! I don't know how many words or what it's called yet though, but I'll probably be posting it around 8 o'clock pm!**


	17. The Meeting

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Sorry guys, I meant to update this a couple hours ago, but real life kinda got in the way... Stupid Chem... This chappy is dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza for being the first to review the last chappy. Enjoy!~ X3**

A small as an action as it was, it made Mustang glad. It proved that he could do _something_ no matter how insignificant it seemed. After all, he'd seen Winry Rockbell when angry and she _should_ be coming in the next week or so. If Edward wasn't doing better by then, he'd have a head injury that was quite a bit worse due to wrenches. Besides, Winry might attack his doctor then too. All in all, if Edward didn't shape up, he'd be in a meeting with the wrench relatively soon.

It seemed that Mustang's victory was short lived because after eating half of the sandwich, the blonde leaned back in his wheelchair and closed his eyes.

"Edward," it was Hawkeye who stepped in, seeing that Mustang was close to snapping, literally and figuratively, "We need to you eat." She waited for the blonde to respond, and when he didn't she knelt down in front of him and grasped his jaw. "Edward." The invalid forced his eyes open and it was only then that Hawkeye noticed how blood-shot they appeared. Night-terrors were exhausting; the victim rarely got any actual rest during one and this was a fact that the Flame and his Colonel were duly aware of.

"I know you're exhausted Edward," Hawkeye said gently, releasing his jaw, "But we need you to eat. It's important that you keep up your strength." She stared Edward in the eye until he lifted the sandwich to his mouth and took another small bite. Then she simply rocked back onto her heels to watch, her sniper senses trained on the area around while still watching the alchemist in front of her. After all, she took her job very seriously and for this trip, she was security detail for the Fuhrer.

Mustang meanwhile was listening to the men as they passed, trying to get a general feel for how they felt about Edward.

"I saw him save Roleign, I swear, the Brig. Gen. came outta nowhere!"

"Yeah, I saw that too! If he hadn't shown up, Roleign would definitely be six feet under right now. Wonder how his shoulder's doing though…"

"The idiot went off and got himself injured pretty bad. Heard the Fuhrer's gonna discipline him-" At that, Mustang felt his strained nerves get just a wee bit thinner. He simply stayed where he was though, snapping at the soldiers (literally and metaphorically) wouldn't do anyone any good. Particularly Edward.

"Edward," came Hawkeye's voice from behind Mustang, sounding very tense, "I need you to eat this for me, will you please do that much?" Mustang slowly turned to see only a quarter of the sandwich he'd been trying to get his subordinate to eat remaining . "What would your brother say?" Hawkeye asked him, pushing the sandwich closer. Mustang watched as Edward grew stiff and unresponsive. The boy's golden eyes appeared similar to the way they'd been when Mustang had first met the brothers. They weren't the eyes of the victor that Edward should be.

"Edward," Roy said, temper rather on the high end from rumors that were making their way through the camp, "Are you going to revert back to that pathetic eleven year-old that I first met?" Hawkeye made a motion, as if she was going to stop the Fuhrer from carrying out his intended path, but Mustang signaled for her to stop. This was something that Edward needed to hear.

"Will you end your days in despair or seek out new possibilities and move forward? We have offered you this chance once, and now we offer it to you again, the possibility _is_ there. You should move forward, even if the way ahead is through a river of mud." And just as the words had six years ago, they inspired another flame too kindle in the depths of Edward's soul.

The alchemist sat forward, snatching the remains of the sandwich from in front of him and swallowing it whole. He took his small notebook and scratched out a note.

'_Who's calling Winry?'_ Mustang and Hawkeye communicated with a wordless glance and responded as one.

"Havoc." Neither the sharp-shooter nor the flame wished to deal with an angry automail mechanic. After a moment of tapping the pen against his chin, Edward scratched out a quick outline for the blonde as well as another question.

'_Sedatives at night?'_ Mustang looked down at the note and then back at the author of said note. Edward might have once refused any form of help, but it seemed that maturity had once again come too early for the young blonde.

"Unfortunately," it was a new voice who answered and all three soldiers were on attack mode in an instant. Edward had one hand poised to clap with another that was no longer there. Mustang held fingers ready to snap and Hawkeye was, as always, ready to shoot. It turned out that the new person was Duncan, who almost dropped the small medical report in his arms. "Okay, no need to kill me here! As I've said before, I'm _not_ in advance!" The three relaxed with heavy sighs. (Well, Hawkeye sheathed her gun, Mustand lowered his hand, and Edward flopped back into his chair with a nonverbal growl.)

"You were very lucky doctor," Hawkeye told him straight up, "If you had met anyone not as instructed to Edward's abrupt entrances, you likely would've been shot." Her dead-pan expression unnerved the young doctor and he subconsciously took a step back from the group.

"Why are you here?" Mustang asked sharply.

"Erm… Well, I came back to med-tent and someone told me that you'd taken Pipsqueak to a meeting-" A rather violent thump starled him and the group looked over to Edward who, in attempting to throw himself onto the doctor to strangle him, had only managed to knock himself out of his armchair.

"Ed!" the doctor reprimanded him, "Don't bother attacking me, you know I'm just gonna call you a pipsqueak, and you might just end up opening your wounds again!" Edward glared at the doctor while he and Mustang lifted the alchemist back into the wheelchair.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLING REPLIES**

**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: Guess that flash wasn't for this chappy... I'll try and get it in the chappy for Thursday okay? And no speaky for Edo, but he does get that flame back in his eyes! Did that part seem okay? I literally went in and copied dialogue from the second episode in Brotherhood...**

**TwinkieHunt: That's funny, I felt like that when I wrote it... If something like that happened to your sibling though, and then you had a run-in with their best friend, wouldn't you want to punch them for not knowing who you are? And Winry will maybe be explained in the next chappy. Maybe... I'm not sure...And I blame mints for a LOT of stuff...**

**karmadella1234: And I still haven't read it yet! I blame Chemistry...**

**animecutie610: Yeah... I don't even know what happened there yet... Guess that means I need to write it, hm? And thank you! Sorry there wasn't any of that this chappy!**

**199: At my school, the grading scale is F is 0 to 62.4%, D is 62.5% to 69.4%, D+ is 69.5% to 71.4% C- is 71.5% to 73.4% C is 73.4% to 80.4% C+ is 80.5% to 83.4% B- is 83.5 to 85.4 B is 85.5 to 89.4 B+ is 89.5 to 92.4 and an A is 92.5 and up. Really complicated whatnot here... And yes, the irony of this does strike me. I would be a TERRIBLE alchemist... Being transmuted through the wall sounds like fun! XD **

**Alchemylover19: Yep. Edo's just stubborn like that!**

**DarkLink'sShadow: BLASPHEMY! And don't worry, Imma little crazy at night too. I'm not sure how their relationship is gonna go, but I don't think that they're gonna be buds. Too many bad memories for the both of them... And that's good you got to sing for him... I cracked the high note because it was open casket and I could see her face so I was crying...**

**lexi100531: Caaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrlll lllll, why'd you blow up the cruise ship Caaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrl llllllllllll?**

**Joker Oak: Yay! Praises! They make me happy!**

**Victorious-Mind: How 'bout this chappy? Was it good? And hurrah! I'm an evil little *mumble*! Woot! ^^**

**Guest: I can't answer any of your questions at this time, but I really appreciate the review!**

**Triforceofwisdom: And now Edo has that drive back. And the one-shot is up, it's called Ever After.**

**Dragonfire Alchemist: *does a happy dance***

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, TwinkieHunt, __karmadella1234, animecutie610, 199, Alchemylover19, DarkLink'sShadow,lexi100531, Joker Oak, Victorious-Mind, Guest, Triforceofwisdom,_ and _Dragonfire Alchemist._ You guys seriously are awesome. And now for the statistics!**

**Chappies: 17! Woot! Most amount of chappies in a story for me ever!**

**Reviews: 115 You guys are my favorite people! #1 spot**

**Views: 3,579 #2 spot**

**Favs: 23 #3 spot**

**Follows: 35 #2 spot**

**And the reason I'm updating this at almost eleven o'clock is because I was studying for an evil Chemistry test I have tomorrow over Chapter ten, which is over the molar map. EVILE! See ya next time!~ X3**


	18. Re-medication

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**This chappy is dedicated to karmadella1234 for being the first to review the last chappy. Enjoy!~ X3**

If looks could kill, most of the people that had ever encountered Edward Elric would be long gone. The look he was giving to his former childhood friend was no exception. Even Duncan was unnerved by the glare, but he had no way to combat it as he rewrapped Edward's wounds and made sure that the broken ribs were still taped up nice and tight. As the doctor pulled a little too tightly on wrapping over one of the more… Sensitive areas, Edward winced and his glare darkened.

"Pipsqueak-" a sharp blow to the back of the doctor's head interrupted, "_Edward_" Duncan hissed, "How badly did that hurt, on a scale of one to te- I mean five." Edward glared even harder at the man and slowly held up a fist. "Oh come on shorty-" Another blow to the back of Duncan's head interrupted once more. "_Would you stop doing that?!_" Duncan hissed at his friend. While the doctor hissed to himself in pain, Edward scratched out a quick note.

_'Chris?'_ Duncan read the note and opted to finish Edward's care before responding.

"Chris wanted to help; he'd heard all the stories about you…" Immediately, Duncan saw the burning fire in Ed's eyes diminish slightly. "He's fine though, really!" Edward just shook his head.

"Are you two done in there yet?" a familiar, annoyed voice called from outside of the tent. Mustang wanted to get on with the rest of the strategy meeting and couldn't with Edward still being taken care of.

"Yes Fuhrer Mustang!" Duncan replied, standing so as to move Edward back into his wheelchair, "We're done now." Edward's yet again returned glare begged to differ, but the slightly useless blonde alchemist allowed Duncan to move him. Once settled in the wheelchair, he was wheeled, by Hawkeye, to the command tent with Mustang parading in front of him. When they reached it, Hughes and Trussel were in an argument. Mustang motioned for silence as they listened in.

"I already gave you my opinion Trussel," Hughes yelled, accompanied by a large thud which must've been the man slamming his hands down on the table, "Mustang means well enough!"

"But you told me a month ago that you thought he was responsible for the death of your brother!"

"I thought I told you to _not_ bring that up again!"

"I'll bring it up if I have to, you-" A huge thud came through the air and the sound of someone falling hit their ears.

"You have no right to speak of it 1st Lt. Trussel. And if it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure that Edward stays here as commander, if only to bother you."

"Watch yourself Hughes," Trussel sneered back, voice thick with pain, his nose must be broken, "If I wanted to I could court-martial you-"

"And then where would you end up?" this came from Perkins who was obviously just coming into the argument.

"Shut up Perkins."

"I'm the same rank as you Asshole!" Another thud sounded through the room, followed by muffled cursing. Mustang chose this point to enter, followed quickly by Hawkeye with Edward.

Trussel's nose was obviously broken and Perkins was already developing a bruise on his cheek. Only Hughes was obviously uninjured, but he was cradling his right hand.

"So," Mustang said brightly, "Let's get back to work!

* * *

"Winry?" the voice invaded her consciousness, bringing her out of the darkness that had been enveloping her mind. Pain blossomed through her head and she tried to move her hands to cradle it. Her hands wouldn't follow through though, and simply laid there, empty. Wait… Were they even… Winry sat straight up from where she lay in a hospital bed and the only thing she saw next was a lack. Her arms… Both of them…

"Winry?" it was the same voice as before, and this time Winry recognized it.

"Granny," she managed, "That's… not Alphonse…" Tears sprang to her eyes as further realization struck her. If it wasn't Alphonse, then… And now she couldn't help… "Edward…" And the pain struck her even worse. She couldn't do what she loved any longer, and nor could she be with the one she loved. For now she realized, _after_ the brink of being too late, that the one she truly loved was not the one by her side. And nor was he by the side of the gate. He was on the battle field, alone, without two of his limbs.

"Automail," she gasped out through her tears, "I need… Granny, please…"

"We'll get you automail Winry," the woman replied, already knowing most of what was running through Winry's head, "Don't worry. It'll turn out okay in the end.'

"No," Winry replied, "It won't. Because that is not Al. And I abandoned Ed." And the tears overflowed once more.

* * *

Early the next morning Mustang sat in with Breda while Havoc went to call Winry. It was during this time that Duncan slipped into an uneasy rest from a rather trying night. He'd been in charge of all of the medication decisions throughout the night, keeping Edward under enough to not be thrashing out in his night-terror fueled fear. Very few of the sedatives worked to begin with and the few that did couldn't be overused. If they were, they were likely to cease functioning and then they would really be screwed. Edward was due for a new dose soon, but surely… It couldn't hurt… For just a few minutes…? A scream moments after her sank into a deeper sleep was the answer.

**AUTHOR'S FRIGHTENED RAMBLING REPLIES**

karmadella1234:** Thanks! Glad to hear that it was funny!**

colonelduckie**: Your username _still _cracks me up.**

Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza**: You may or may not love the chappy I'm posting Thursday then... (If I don't write one before then...)**

TwinkieHunt**: Erm... This? And I kinda like Winry, but I can see where others wouldn't, so it's okay.  
**

Alchemylover19**: And so the not really but kind of rants are revealed! Poor Duncan, he's gonna get his head knocked in... And I _really_ need to make a list of my OCs so I don't spend an hour reading my own fic to remember what I named somebody or other...**

DarkLink'sShadow**: It's okay, my mom can't stand coffee either. My dad was breathing coffee breath into her face as each of us was born, so that's why my mom thinks we like it so much. (I have an older sis and a younger sis). And now we know what happened to Winry...**

Dragonfire Alchemist**: That's the BEST time to review! And you know, I think I might have actually passed it this time! XD**

Victorious-Mind**: Erm... Don't kill me?**

199**: It's Cretian soldiers, not Drachman. But yeah, if I hadn't planned (*coughIdon'treallyplananythingevercough *) it this way, that scene would've been fun to write!**

**Thank you to _karmadella1234, colonelduckie, Gyenth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, TwinkieHunt, Alchemylover19, DarkLink'sShadow, Cometflare, Dragonfire Alchemist, Anna Whitlinger, Victorious-Mind, madacat153, _and_ 199._**

**__Erm... Please don't kill me? Chemistry killed me? Um... *sees glaring crowd of over 20 people* Imma gonna runformylifenow! AND I THINK I PASSED THE DAMN FUCKING TEST THIS TIME! XD Now, I'm running!**


	19. Voice

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Wigs are annoying. But I"ll explain that later... This chappy is dedicated to Alchemylover19 for being the first to review the last chappy! Enjoy!~**

Mustang ran down the aisle of tents from where he'd been speaking with Breda a moment ago. He recognized that terror filled scream without a doubt. It belonged to Edward. Cursing, he burst through the med-tent flap to find Edward on the floor, eyes wide open and empty, thrashing around. Next to him on the ground was Duncan, it looked like Edward had managed to knock him out. Mustang took a step forward to stop him, but a hand grabbed him.

"Don't," it was Havoc, "He's got some sort of circle on the ground, get too close and he'll hurt you."

"Like hell he'll hurt me," Mustang snapped back, "I have a subordinate to care for. Inform me of your call later." Mustang took a step towards Edward and, sure enough, there was a transmutation circle on the ground in front of Edward, a fairly simple one to move metals in the earth in order to attack and defend with it. As the Fuhrer came within arms reach, the other alchemist activated his circle.

At Mustang's cry of pain as one of the spikes tore through the Fuhrer's shoulder, Edward jerked back into full consciousness before collapsing back to the floor, unable to hold up the weight of his torso with one arm any longer. After a moment of indecision, Edward held up an arm, silently asking to be lifted back to the bed. Mustang complied with his good arm, helping the smaller alchemist stand and walk. When they got to the bed, Edward's eyes went wide and his hand flew to his throat, unintentionally dropping all of his weight onto Mustang.

The pain that had been there, part of every waking moment until now… Was gone. Did that mean…?

"…Mustang…?" Edward rasped out, his voice rough from two months of disuse. The Fuhrer stared at Edward as if he'd grown a third head. …What? He didn't understand… "M-Mustang?" Edward tried again.

"Chief!" Havoc interrupted, "Ya got your voice back! How'd… How'd ya lose it?" Edward's eyes went even wider and his pupils contracted, fear evident on his face.

"Where's Winry?" Neither man made a move to answer, and Mustang was still staring at his subordinate with a rather shocked expression. Having someone you thought would never speak again begin to rant at you is a rather unique experience after all. "I said _WHERE IS WINRY?!_" the blonde shouted, "She's in _danger_!"

"She was back at home, in Resembool -" Havoc started.

"Are you positive? Was Al with her? Are they… How do you know? When'd you last-" Mustang placed his hand over his subordinate's mouth.

"Hush." Mustang commanded, "Let Havoc give his report."

"Well," Havoc said easily, leaning on the end of the bed next to the one Edward had temporarily claimed, "There's not much to tell. I called, told her there was shit going down with Chief when he started screaming again, then the line went dead from her end. Had to come in and help you then, else Ed woulda hurt you…" Both men subconsciously glanced at the young man who was now glaring at a rather small spot on the floor.

"The bastard got to her," Ed whispered, venom dripping through his tone, "I can't believe it, why didn't I stay?"

"Fullmetal," Mustang said, trying to get his attention. It didn't work, so he tried something else. "_Edward_. Calm down, you have to talk to us if we're going to help."

"It was -" Edward tried to say a name, but couldn't force his mouth to form the word. He tried to push it and only ended up with a deep, hacking cough.

"Edward!" Mustang had a hand on the boy's shoulder immediately and therefore was in the perfect position to see Ed pull away his hand to reveal scarlet staining his skin. There was actually quite a lot of it and it scared Mustang, to an extent.

"Dammit!" Edward cursed, turning from Mustang to punch the bed, "The bastard made it so I can't talk!"

"Would it be correct to assume that when you say 'bastard', you're not referring to your father this time?" Edward nodded and an idea came to him.

"Give me that notebook." A few moments of rapid drawing and writing later and Edward produced a picture with coded notes. He offered it to Mustang with a frown. "If I tried anything less than my best code, he'd give me more than a little coughing-" Another coughing fit interrupted Edward and Mustang just nodded at him, while frowning. What on earth could be happening?

"You gotta promise though... Winry…"

"I'll call again, maybe PInako will tell me what's happened."

"Winry's not… With… Granny…?" The coughs grew deeper and shook Edward's frame, sending more specks of blood flying across the room. Mustang was deeply disturbed, but knew he couldn't do anything so instead resorted to glaring at the unconscious doctor's form.

"No," it was Havoc who answered again, seeing that Mustang wouldn't be answering at any given time, soon at least, "She and your brother-" Edward tried to interject something, but the coughing grew worse. Havoc waited until it finished and offered Edward a hankerchief to clean his face with. "They built your old house again and the two started living there a week ago."

"Granny's… Not gonna… Like… What she… finds…" the coughs wracked through him, robbing Edward of his supply of oxygen and he felt it as his body gave out on him and he passed out. Mustang realized it almost imeadiately as the small body slumped against him.

"What a way to spend a morning," Havoc said, lighting another cigarette.

"And it's not even 0900," Mustang agreed, shifting Edward on the bed so that he could stand.

"Will he still need the sedatives?" Havoc asked, eyeing the kid uneasily.

"Something tells me he won't," Mustang said, "Now, you need to cal Mrs. Rockbell and I need to get this bandaged up." He gestured to his shoulder rather pointlessly and Havoc stepped once more to the phone.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLING REPLIES**

**Alchemylover19: I'm actually tall, so I don't understand that pain...**

**TwinkieHunt: ANd the irony is exactly what I was aiming for! XD**

**karmadella1234: Pf, I actually even made that meeting! (Sort of...)**

**199: I'm well aware of the irony. And I grasp the _basic_ concepts, just... Not the stupid theory, okay? Stupid friggin' polyatomic ions...**

**Ciel Farron: THank you! I'm planning on writing an actual book too!**

**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: I have achieved my ultimate goal! Mwahahahaha! JK, crying is sad. Hm... Wonder what all this says about my mental health...**

**gpianist: I'd like to know where it's going too... My brain seems to like leaving me in the dark...**

**Firefly264: Surprisingly, there wasn't that much of an angry _mob_ perse... And I didn't run completely! I just hid in the closet! XD And maybe, it'll be underlying if it is, I'm not much for writing romance. I _hate_ the girly mangas. It's just not fun without blood. And I don't know yet...  
**

**colonelduckie: I feel like I missed something too.**

**Victorious-Mind: Hah, and you thought that _you_ tortured the characters!**

**Joker Oak: I'm just an annoying 16 year-old and you seem to get on fine with me...**

**animecutie610: *shrugs* haven't decided that yet...**

**Triforceofwisdom: ...Maybe...**

**Thank you to _Alchemylover19, TwinkieHunt, __karmadella1234, 199, Ciel Farron, Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, gpianist, Firefly264, Dragonfire Alchemist, colonelduckie, Victorious-Mind, Joker Oak, animecutie610, IHaveHornsHoldingUpMyHalo, bc1.08, lexi100531, Triforceofwisdom, _and_ awesomenaruto._**

**__Now, about the wig, I may or may not have a helmet of bobypins(literally, my hair is about the length of... Well... Denny Broshe's...) I'm sad for a chick, I know... And I may or may not be planning a cosplay...**


	20. My Nightmare

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Um... Thisisthelastchappyforthisst ory... Dedicated to Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza for being the first to review the last chappy... Enjoy?**

Two hours later, Ed woke, with his mind hazy and his chest throbbing in pain. He laid there for a moment in silence before the morning came rushing back to him all at once. Immediately, he sprang up, only to butt foreheads with whoever was sitting beside him. The curse that came out a moment later identified the person as Mustang.

"Dammit Fullmetal! That _hurt_!"

"What?" Ed asked, voice still raspy but amusement clear in his tone, "A little pain too much for the Fuhrer to bear?" After a moment of holding his trademark grin, he let it fall before settling on a more serious topic. "Winry?" The fact that the Flame Alchemist looked away before answering him was not a good sign. Neither was the fact that the older man wouldn't meet his eyes.

"She… Pinako got to her, but-"

"She's alive right?" the desperation in his tone gave Mustang pause and he considered for the umpteenth time how to tell Edward about what had happened.

"Yes…" Mustang answered at length, uneasily, "But… Her arms were… Severed from her body rather crudely. And there was no sign of your brother at all." Edward's head fell forward and his bangs fell over his eyes. Mustang could do nothing but watch as his subordinate's shoulders started to shake. He didn't _think_ that the seventeen year old was crying, but he wasn't positive. The shaking appeared to be rage though. And a moment later, Mustang was proven right.

"That… that _bastard_…" the angry words came out as a harsh whisper and Mustang was afraid for the sanity of Edward, "Is _not_ my-" And the coughing came again, blood spitting out from between Ed's already pale lids. Mustang looked over to where Duncan lay, still unconscious as Ed's coughs became louder and louder. He couldn't do anything though, besides sit there and wait and blood stained Edward's hand. When the fit finally subsided, Edward collapsed back onto the bed and closed his eyes, placing his forearm overtop.

"This isn't how it was supposed to happen!" Edward said, tears leaking from his eyes, "We were supposed to get out bodies back together! And now… Winry can't…" Mustang placed a hand on Edward's shoulder.

"Don't worry Edward. You three will get through this, you always have before."

"But it's-" and the blood spewed forth, staining Edward's chin. It didn't last long though, and Edward's face was almost paler than the sheet. "This isn't just because of the _bastard_," Edward said through clenched teeth, hating himself even more, "I wasn't going to say anything like that…" He stopped for another short round of coughing and Mustang helped him to sit back up when he finished. Coughing like that in a horizontal position could kill him.

"Mustang," Edward said, tone flat, "I'm sick. Probably like Mom was." Mustang's ears couldn't believe it. Sick like his mother… But that meant… Here, right in front of him, _again_, a subordinate was dying. And he couldn't fix it. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try. Mustang stood without a word, knocking his chair back and marching out of the tent. A screaming filled his head, but it wasn't one others could hear. It was a silent screaming, the one in nightmares.

_'The silent screaming in _my_ nightmare…_'

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**BEFORE ANYONE KILLS ME! I will be writing a sequel, of that there is no doubt! I just felt the need to cut this story here becase it's so awesome that I don't want to ruin it. Besides, this is the ultimate cliffhanger of doom! Who _wouldn't_ want to kill me after this? I'm not sure what I'm gonna call the sequel yet, you guys will just have to check.**

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLING REPLIES**

**Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza: I think this chapter proves that without a doubt... And dying happy _now_ is impossible... Sorry 'bout that...**

**Ciel Farron: It's gonna be about a world that we go to through our deaths if we inhabit it in our dreams!~ I'm such a happy person, aren't I? Everything I write is depressing... And I'll let you guys know if I ever get it published!**

**Alchemylover19: Redness on neck? Did I put that in there somewhere? Hm...**

**colonelduckie: Well, Fuhrer Bastard seems to be more pissed off than Edo...**

**Dragonfire Alchemist: I know, right? Squealing is almost worse than Lin's food bill! XD**

**Victorious-Mind: DON'T KILL ME! I WON'T BE ABLE TO WRITE A SEQUEL IF YOU DO! And yes, coughing up blood. :)**

**Curiousity Killed The Lav: Why thankya! And if I may ask, what's 'the lav'?**

**Joker Oak: Yep, you just about got it for Duncan. And he'll be in the sequel, he'd be mad at me if I didn't stick him in there. There'll be more on Winry too!**

**199: The first one. And that's a very interesting idea...**

** jmtothemusic: Thank you so much, that means a lot to me. Everyone I know in person tells me the stuff I write is too depressing, so to know that you think it's good is awesome! *glomp***

**Jellybellyluvver: THank you! Well, there's twenty chapters... And honestly, I have no friggin' clue how long the sequeal is gonna be. Probably longer than this one...**

**Triforceofwisdom: Then you understand why it has to end here?**

**Thank you to _Gyneth-Coral-Melody-Laterza, Ciel Farron, Alchemylover19, colonelduckie, Dragonfire Alchemist, xxEagletxx, Victorious-Mind, Curiousity Killed The Lav, Joker Oak, 199, jmtothemusic, Sherlocked1994, Jiggaly-Ribbs, Jellybellyluvver, _and_ Triforceofwisdom._**

**You guys are seriously the best peeps ever and it's because of you that I've written mt first ever ending. (Sort of) Anywho, see you epicnesses next time!**

**Chappies: 20 #1 spot**

**Reviews: 151 #1 spot**

**4,629 views #2 spot**

**29 favs #2 spot**

**42 alerts #2 spot**

**Place in my heart: #1! (He was #1! He was #1!He was #1!) (You get a cookie if you know that quote.)**


End file.
